Uniformed Services News

The U.S. Senate confirmed on Tuesday evening President Biden’s nomination of NOAA Rear Admiral Nancy Hann to lead the NOAA Office of Marine and Aviation Operations (OMAO) and NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps (NOAA Corps), one of the nation’s eight uniformed services.“From flying into hurricanes to crewing remote explorations to the deepest depths of the ocean, the NOAA Corps drives NOAA’s science forward,” said U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina M. Raimondo. “Rear Admiral Hann’s leadership…

Today, the United States Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA) at Kings Point issued its new strategic plan providing guidance and direction for the near-term future of the Academy.The plan, entitled The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy Strategic Plan 2018-2023: Navigating Towards the Future Together, describes strategic priorities that will guide the institution for the next five years and beyond, including enriching educational programs; improving institutional culture; infrastructure planning…

NOAA announced the official launch of its 2015 Arctic hydrographic survey season took place this morning, in Kodiak, Alaska, in a World Ocean Day ceremony which showcased the deployment of the NOAA ships Rainier and Fairweather. “Most Arctic waters that are charted were surveyed with obsolete technology, with some of the information dating back to Captain Cook's voyages, long before the region was part of the United States,” said NOAA deputy under secretary for operations Vice Admiral Michael S. Devany in remarks directed to the crews of NOAA ships.

NOAA plans increased 2015 Arctic nautical charting operations, coordinating with U.S. As commercial shipping traffic increases in the Arctic, NOAA informs it is taking steps to update nautical charts in the region. NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey will use data collected by two of its own ships, Rainier and Fairweather, as well as the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Healy and a private sector hydrographic contractor to cover nearly 12,000 nautical miles in the Arctic for use in updating its navigational charts.

Franciscan Alvernia University is to award an an Honorary Degree of Humane Letters to Vice-Admiral Matthew L. Nathan before he addresses the Class of 2014 at the upcoming May 2014 Commencement. Nathan is Surgeon General of the Navy and Chief of the Navy’s Bureau of Medicine and Surgery. Alvernia inform that Nathan’s education and naval background is extensive: he is board certified and holds Fellow status in the American College of Physicians and the American College of Healthcare Executives. He also holds an appointment as Clinical Professor of Medicine at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and is a recipient of the American Hospital Association’s Excellence in Leadership award for the Federal Sector.

NOAA Capt. Anne K. Lynch has assumed command of the agency's Marine Operations Center-Atlantic in Norfolk, Va., which manages the day-to-day operations of the nine research and survey ships in NOAA's Atlantic fleet. Each year these ships conduct dozens of missions to assess fish and marine mammal stocks, conduct coral reef research, collect seafloor data to update nautical charts, and explore the ocean. Lynch relieves NOAA Corps officer Anita Lopez, who has served as the center's commanding officer since June 2012.

The Louisiana Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR), an office of the Department of Defense, announced today that on September 23, 2013 Eric Danos, Executive Vice President of Danos, and Reed Pere, Production Services Division Manager of Danos, were both honored with a Patriot Award. In addition Hank Danos, CEO and President of Danos was honored with the “Above and Beyond Award” in recognition of extraordinary support of its employee United States Coast Guard Reserve member Douglas Kunkle. According to Larry L.

U.S. Senators Mark Begich, Roger Wicker (R-MS) and Brian Schatz (D-HI) introduced legislation to strengthen the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Commissioned Officer Corps as a national asset and improve its ability to recruit and retain talented candidates like other uniformed services. Begich is chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries and Coast Guard. Wicker and Schatz serve on the subcommittee as well. The NOAA Corps’ primary mission is to operate NOAA’s fleet of research ships and aircraft.

NOAA Ship Rainier returns to Alaska to conduct sea floor surveys in support of safe navigation. NOAA Ship Rainier has begun a month long survey of the sea floor near Alaska’s Prince of Wales Island as part of a multi-year effort to update nautical charts for the area. In addition to supporting marine navigation, data acquired by the 231-foot hydrographic survey vessel will also support marine ecosystem studies and improve inundation models for areas vulnerable to tsunamis. “We are pleased to return to Alaska to continue these important surveys…

NOAA Ship Thomas Jefferson conducts sea floor surveys to keep shipping safe along Long Island coast. NOAA Ship Thomas Jefferson continues today on a three-month survey of the sea floor off the coast of New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island, as part of a multi-year effort to update nautical charts for Block Island Sound and keep large ships and commerce moving safely. In addition to supporting marine navigation, data acquired by the 208-foot hydrographic survey vessel will also support a seafloor mapping initiative by Connecticut and New York.

NOAA Ship Fairweather, a 231-foot survey vessel, departed Kodiak, Alaska, today on a mission to conduct hydrographic surveys in remote areas of the Arctic where depths have not been measured since before the U.S. bought Alaska in 1867. NOAA will use the data to update nautical charts to help mariners safely navigate this  important but sparsely charted region, which is now seeing increased vessel traffic because of the significant loss of  Arctic sea ice. Over the next two months, Fairweather will conduct hydrographic surveys covering 402 square nautical miles of navigationally significant waters in Kotzebue Sound, a regional distribution hub in northwestern Alaska in the Arctic Circle.

NOAA ship John N. Cobb, the oldest and only wooden hulled ship in the NOAA fleet, was decommissioned in after 58 years of service. The 93-ft. fisheries research vessel began service in 1950 with the Bureau of Fisheries, predecessor to NOAA's Fisheries Service, conducting albacore tuna surveys in , , and . Homeported in , Cobb has operated primarily in Alaskan waters for much of her service life, most recently in support of the fisheries service's Auke Bay Laboratories in . "The John N. Cobb has been an extremely productive platform for NOAA.

At a Commerce Department ceremony in Washington, D.C., today James R. Mahoney, was sworn in as the assistant secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere. In this capacity, he is a chief manager of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the nation's top science agency for oceans and the atmosphere under its current administrator Vice Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher, USN (ret.). Commerce Secretary Don Evans administered the oath of office. "President Bush and I are very pleased to have Jim Mahoney on the NOAA team," said Commerce Secretary Don Evans. NOAA manages the U.S. operational weather and environmental satellites, a fleet of research ships and aircraft, and 12 environmental research laboratories.

Halter Marine, Inc, a subsidiary of Friede Goldman Halter, has started construction of NOAA’s (National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration) newest vessel the M/V Oscar Dyson. The vessel is scheduled for delivery in 36 months at a price of $38.3 million. It is anticipated that options for additional vessels will be exercised as Congress incrementally appropriates funds. NOAA may build up to three additional Fishing Research Vessels (RFV) under the terms of the contract, pushing its value to more than $165 million. The M/V “Oscar Dyson” is a state-of-the-art Fishing Research Vessel named in honor of Oscar Dyson, of Kodiak, Alaska Dyson, a well-known fishing activist served as an industry advisor to government officials, including a congressional delegation.

Photo Credit: NOAANOAA announced that VT Halter Marine Inc. of Pascagoula, Miss., will complete the final design and build of a new Small Waterplane Area Twin Hull Coastal Mapping Vessel, or SWATH CMV, for the agency. NOAA exercised a $15m option for the ship with VT Halter Marine, which also completed the vessel's preliminary design under a separate option. The primary mission of the SWATH CMV will be to map the full seafloor in coastal areas for the nation's nautical charts. It will operate in waterways along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, Caribbean Sea and Great Lakes, conducting basic hydrographic surveys of the seafloor using side scan and multibeam sonar technologies.

The maritime industry makes local headlines when something goes wrong, but the headlines on February 21 went national. In a spectucular eruption of flame and smoke, the like of which New York had not seen since 9/11, an estimated million gallons of gasoline erupted from a barge near the southwestern tip of Staten Island. The barge captain and mate were killed in the 10 A.M. explosion, and a nearby worker at the ExxonMobil facility suffered third-degree burns. The New York Times the next day showed a plume of dense black smoke over the city, but reported that the calamaty had been quickly controlled. Almost certaiinly it was not the work of terrorists and, being a gasoline fire, The Times reassured, it could burn itself out without leaving a slick to endanger the birds.