Davisville is home port for NOAA research ship Okeanos Explorer
posted October 27, 2009 in Resident News

An artist’s rendering of a building that the Quonset Development Corporation will use to house scientists and staff of the research vessel Okeanos Explorer.

Governor Carcieri was joined Monday by Sen. Jack Reed and other state and federal officials to break ground on the new headquarters for staff and scientists from the Okeanos Explorer, a one-of-a-kind federal research vessel that will make Davisville its home port.

The officials were on hand not just to mark the groundbreaking for the $1.8-million building in the state-owned Quonset Business Park but also to celebrate the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s decision to bring the state-of-the-art ship to Rhode Island. They believe it will be an essential part of an ocean research community in the state centered around the nearby University of Rhode Island.

Bob Ballard, director of the university’s Institute of Archeological Oceanography and the discoverer of the wreck of the Titanic, said Rhode Island had to fend off fierce competition from Hawaii, Alaska and other Pacific Coast states to become the home port for the Okeanos. “We see a great, great future not just for the citizens of Rhode Island but the citizens of our country,” he told attendees at the ceremony on the Davisville waterfront.

The Okeanos is the only U.S. government ship dedicated solely to exploring unknown parts of the ocean. It is a former Navy surveillance ship that was obtained by NOAA in 2005 and converted at a shipyard in Seattle into a deep-sea research vessel.

The ship, named for the Greek word for “oceans,” was commissioned in August 2008, equipped with the latest technology for ocean mapping, deployment of unmanned submersibles, onboard laboratories and real-time transmission of images and data collected during expeditions.

The full article can be found at projo.com.