MV Ushuaia

NOAAS ''Researcher'' (R 103), was an American oceanographic research vessel in commission in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) from 1970 to 1996. She had been delivered to the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey in 1970 as USC&GS ''Researcher'' (OSS 03), but did not enter commission until after her transfer to NOAA later that year. In 1988, ''Researcher'' was renamed NOAAS ''Malcolm Baldrige'' (R 103).

After her United States Government career came to an end, ''Malcolm Baldrige'' became the cruise ship MV ''Ushuaia'', operating between Argentina and Antarctica.

Construction and commissioning

Designed by the Maritime Administration, ''Researcher'' was built of welded steel with an ice-strengthened hull as an "ocean survey ship" (OSS) for the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey by the American Shipbuilding Company at Toledo, Ohio.''Ships of the NOAA Fleet''
Office of NOAA Corps Operations, June 1989, p. 9.NOAA Marine Operations: NOAA Ship Malcolm Baldrige
/ref> Launched in October 1968, she was delivered in June 1970 to the Coast and Geodetic Survey at the Atlantic Maritime Center in Norfolk, Virginia, and accepted there on 18 June 1970 by the Survey,''Ship Operations Report 1970'', National Ocean Survey
/ref> which planned to commission her as USC&GS ''Researcher'' (OSS 03). She had not yet been commissioned when the Coast and Geodetic Survey and other United States Government agencies merged to form NOAA on 3 October 1970. ''Researcher'' was commissioned that month and became a part of the new NOAA fleet as NOAAS ''Researcher'' (OSS 03). In the mid-1970s, her hull number was changed, and she became NOAAS ''Researcher'' (R 103).

Operational career

U.S. Government

''Researcher'' operated as an all-purpose oceanographic research ship in all the worlds oceans, conducting oceanographic and atmospheric research.NOAA History, A Science Odyssey: Tools of the Trade: Coast and Geodetic Survey Ships: Researcher
/ref>

In 1987, the long-serving United States Secretary of Commerce, Malcolm Baldrige, Jr., died in office of injuries suffered in a rodeo accident. In his honor, ''Researcher'' was renamed NOAAS ''Malcolm Baldrige'' (R 103) in a ceremony at Pier 1 at the Washington Navy Yard in Washington, D.C., on 1 March 1988. She was the first ship to be outfitted with an upgraded oceanographic system, the Scientific Computer System (SCS), which consisted of two MicroVAX computer systems that were networked to provide for both data acquisition and data processing functions. One of the MicroVAX systems was dedicated to acquiring, logging, and displaying data in real time and performing real-time data quality assurance functions, while the second MicroVAX was allocated to scientists embarked on the ship for data analysis and direction of their research.

''Malcolm Baldrige'' was the second NOAA ship to circumnavigate the Earth, leaving Miami, Florida, in February 1995, proceeding through the South Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, and Pacific Ocean, and then through the Panama Canal to Norfolk, Virginia, where the voyage ended in early 1996. NOAA decommissioned ''Malcolm Baldrige'' on 23 August 1996.

Cruise ship

Sometime in the late 1990s, ''Malcolm Baldrige'' was sold to an firm in Argentina, Antarpply Expeditions, which converted her into a cruise ship to run tours to Antarctica. Renamed MV ''Ushuaia'' and registered in Togo, she is based in the city of Ushuaia on Tierra del Fuego in Argentina on the Beagle Channel near the southern tip of South America.

''Ushuaia'' could carry 84 passengers.

On 4 December 2008, ''Ushuaia'' hit a rock in Wilhelmina Bay off Antarctica. The Chilean Navy transport '' Aquiles'' took off her passengers — 14 Dutch, 12 Americans, 11 Australians, eight Germans, and six Chinese, as well as Canadians, New Zealanders, Britons, Italians, French, Spaniards, Swiss, a Belgian, and a Cypriot — and five Argentine crew members on 5 December 2008 and transported them to the Base Presidente Eduardo Frei Montalva in the South Shetland Islands, from which they were flown to Ushuaia on 6 December 2008 aboard the Argentine Air Force KC-130H Hercules tanker ''TC-69''.Antarctic Cruise Tourists Rescued
Sky News, 5 December 2008

In 2014, ''Ushuaia'' underwent renovation and refurbishment, from which she emerged with a capacity of 88 passengers in 44 cabins and suites, a large dining room, a bar, an open-plan observation lounge equipped with multimedia equipment that allows it to double as a lecture room, a library, a changing room, and a small infirmary. She carries seven Zodiac inflatable boats.

See also

*NOAA ships and aircraft

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Researcher (R 103)
Ships of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Ships of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey
Research vessels of the United States
Cruise ships
Graham Land
Ushuaia
Ships built in Toledo, Ohio
1968 ships