NOAAS ''Townsend Cromwell'' (R 443) was an American fisheries

research vessel A research vessel (RV or R/V) is a ship or boat designed, modified, or equipped to carry out research at sea. Research vessels carry out a number of roles. Some of these roles can be combined into a single vessel but others require a dedicated ...

that was in commission in the

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (abbreviated as NOAA ) is an United States scientific and regulatory agency within the United States Department of Commerce that forecasts weather, monitors oceanic and atmospheric conditio ...

(NOAA) fleet from 1975 to 2002. Prior to her NOAA career, she was in the

United States Fish and Wildlife Service The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS or FWS) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior dedicated to the management of fish, wildlife, and natural habitats. The mission of the agency is "working with othe ...

s Bureau of Commercial Fisheries fleet from 1963 to 1975 as US FWS ''Townsend Cromwell''. After her NOAA career, the ship became MV ''Townsend Cromwell'', first as the property of the

government of American Samoa The government of American Samoa is defined under the Constitution of American Samoa. The United States Congress, in the Ratification Act of 1929, provided that until the Congress shall provide for the Government of the islands of American Samoa a ...

from 2002 to 2003 and then as a private

yacht A yacht is a sailing or power vessel used for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a , as opposed to a , such a pleasu ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

from 2003 to 2009. Since 2009, she has operated in Fiji as the passenger-cargo ship MV ''Lau Trader''.

Construction and commissioning

''Townsend Cromwell'' was built for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service by the J. Ray McDermott Company in Morgan City,

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

. She was launched in July 1963, delivered in November 1963, and commissioned into service in the Fish and Wildlife Service's Bureau of Commercial Fisheries on 25 January 1964 as US FWS ''Townsend Cromwell''. In 1975 she was transferred to NOAA and in June 1975 was commissioned into NOAAs fleet as NOAAS ''Townsend Cromwell'' (R 443).''Ships of the NOAA Fleet'', Rockville, Maryland: United States Department of Commerce, June 1989
/ref>

Characteristics and capabilities

''Townsend Cromwell'' had a telescoping boom with a lifting capacity of 2,000 pounds (907 kg), a articulated boom with a lifting capacity of , a

plankton Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms found in water (or air) that are unable to propel themselves against a current (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are called plankters. In the ocean, they provide a crucia ...

boom, and a movable

A-frame An A-frame is a basic structure designed to bear a load in a lightweight economical manner. The simplest form of an A-frame is two similarly sized beams, arranged in an angle of 45 degrees or less, attached at the top, like an uppercase lette ...

. She also had two

hydraulic Hydraulics (from Greek: Υδραυλική) is a technology and applied science using engineering, chemistry, and other sciences involving the mechanical properties and use of liquids. At a very basic level, hydraulics is the liquid counte ...

main deck

winch A winch is a mechanical device that is used to pull in (wind up) or let out (wind out) or otherwise adjust the tension of a rope or wire rope (also called "cable" or "wire cable"). In its simplest form, it consists of a spool (or drum) attach ...

es, each with a drum capacity of of .322-inch (8.2-mm) line and a maximum pull of , a hydraulic CTD winch with a drum capacity of of 3/16-inch (4.8-mm) wire rope and a maximum pull of , and a hydraulic net reel winch with a maximum pull of . ''Townsend Cromwell'' had a 390- square-foot (36.2- square-meter)

wet laboratory A wet lab, or experimental lab, is a type of laboratory where it is necessary to handle various types of chemicals and potential "wet" hazards, so the room has to be carefully designed, constructed, and controlled to avoid spillage and contamination ...

and a 120-square-foot (11.1-square-meter) electronic laboratory. She also had 200 square feet (18.6 square meters) of scientific specimen

freezer A refrigerator, colloquially fridge, is a commercial and home appliance consisting of a thermally insulated compartment and a heat pump (mechanical, electronic or chemical) that transfers heat from its inside to its external environment so th ...

space. ''Townsend Cromwell'' carried two boats, a

Boston Whaler Boston Whaler is an American boat manufacturer. It is a subsidiary of the Brunswick Boat Group, a division of the Brunswick Corporation. Boston Whalers were originally produced in Massachusetts, hence the name, but today are manufactured in Edg ...

fiberglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass ( Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass clo ...

boat and a

Zodiac The zodiac is a belt-shaped region of the sky that extends approximately 8° north or south (as measured in celestial latitude) of the ecliptic, the apparent path of the Sun across the celestial sphere over the course of the year. The pat ...

inflatable boat, both powered by

gasoline Gasoline (; ) or petrol (; ) (see ) is a transparent, petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most spark-ignited internal combustion engines (also known as petrol engines). It consists mostly of organi ...

outboard motor An outboard motor is a propulsion system for boats, consisting of a self-contained unit that includes engine, gearbox and propeller or jet drive, designed to be affixed to the outside of the transom. They are the most common motorised method ...

s. In addition to her crew of 17, ''Townsend Cromwell'' could accommodate up to nine scientists.researchvessels.org Townsend Cromwell Vessel Data
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Service history

U.S. Government service

On 25 December 1963, ''Townsend Cromwell'' arrived at

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

, which became her home port for her entire time in

United States Government The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a feder ...

service. She was commissioned into service with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services Bureau of Commercial Fisheries at Honolulu on 25 January 1964 to support the Fish and Wildlife Services Honolulu Laboratory. Her first 20 cruises involved an

oceanographic Oceanography (), also known as oceanology and ocean science, is the scientific study of the oceans. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of topics, including ecosystem dynamics; ocean currents, waves, and geophysical fluid dynamic ...

experiment to characterize the influence of northeast

trade wind The trade winds or easterlies are the permanent east-to-west prevailing winds that flow in the Earth's equatorial region. The trade winds blow mainly from the northeast in the Northern Hemisphere and from the southeast in the Southern Hemisph ...

s north of the equator, which contributed to the development of a

general circulation model A general circulation model (GCM) is a type of climate model. It employs a mathematical model of the general circulation of a planetary atmosphere or ocean. It uses the Navier–Stokes equations on a rotating sphere with thermodynamic ter ...

for the waters of the

North Pacific Ocean North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' i ...

.Altonn, Helen, "Ship winds up last research voyage," ''Honolulu Star-Bulletin'', October 7, 2002.
/ref> In 1975, ''Townsend Cromwell'' came under the control of NOAAs Office of Marine and Aviation Operations. Under NOAA control, she conducted fishery and living marine resource research in support of the

National Marine Fisheries Service The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), informally known as NOAA Fisheries, is a United States federal agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) that is responsible for the ste ...

Honolulu Laboratory in Honolulu, using bottom trawls, longlines, and

fish trap A fish trap is a trap used for fishing. Fish traps include fishing weirs, lobster traps, and some fishing nets such as fyke nets. Traps are culturally almost universal and seem to have been independently invented many times. There are two ma ...

s to collect

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of ...

and

crustacean Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group can ...

specimens. She carried out fisheries assessment surveys, physical and

chemical A chemical substance is a form of matter having constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Some references add that chemical substance cannot be separated into its constituent elements by physical separation methods, i.e., w ...

oceanography,

marine mammal Marine mammals are aquatic mammals that rely on the ocean and other marine ecosystems for their existence. They include animals such as seals, whales, manatees, sea otters and polar bears. They are an informal group, unified only by their ...

plans, and

coral reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups. C ...

research, operating around the Hawaiian Islands and elsewhere in the waters of the central and western

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...

.NOAA Ship ''Townsend Cromwell''
/ref>Anonymous, "N.O.A.A. Decommissions Honolulu-based Research Ship After 39 Years of Service," Green Environment News, October 10, 2002.
/ref> With the passage of the

Magnuson–Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act The Magnuson–Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSFCMA), commonly referred to as the Magnuson–Stevens Act (MSA), is the legislation providing for the management of marine fisheries in U.S. waters. Originally enacted in 1976 to as ...

by the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

in 1976 and the U.S. Government's establishment of a 200- nautical-mile fishery conservation zone, ''Townsend Cromwell'' began to support U.S. Government- and State of Hawaii-sponsored investigations of marine and land resources of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. After completing that work in 1982, she returned to assessments of commercial fishery resources such as

spiny lobster Spiny lobsters, also known as langustas, langouste, or rock lobsters, are a family (Palinuridae) of about 60 species of achelate crustaceans, in the Decapoda Reptantia. Spiny lobsters are also, especially in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, So ...

groundfish Demersal fish, also known as groundfish, live and feed on or near the bottom of seas or lakes (the demersal zone).Walrond Carl . "Coastal fish - Fish of the open sea floor"Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Updated 2 March 2009 They oc ...

, and precious

coral Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and ...

s, and she conducted assessments of the deep shrimp and groundfish fisheries around

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

and the

Northern Mariana Islands The Northern Mariana Islands, officially the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI; ch, Sankattan Siha Na Islas Mariånas; cal, Commonwealth Téél Falúw kka Efáng llól Marianas), is an unincorporated territory and commonw ...

. She also supported field camps on the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands to count

Hawaiian monk seal The Hawaiian monk seal (''Neomonachus schauinslandi'') is an endangered species of earless seal in the family Phocidae that is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands. The Hawaiian monk seal is one of two extant monk seal species; the other is the ...

s and green sea turtles under a U.S. Government mandate for preservation of those species, and she took part in oceanographic cruises using

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioi ...

s to improve the understanding of wind-generated eddies and large frontal systems in Pacific Ocean fisheries areas. In her later years, she participated in resource assessments for the Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. For several years prior to her

decommissioning Decommissioning is a general term for a formal process to remove something from an active status, and may refer to: Infrastructure * Decommissioned offshore * Decommissioned highway * Greenfield status of former industrial sites * Nuclear decommi ...

, she took part in multi-agency U.S. Government efforts to remove hundreds of tons of discarded fishing gear and other marine debris from coral reef

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syste ...

s. ''Townsend Cromwell''s final cruise, a 30-day research expedition for the Northwestern Hawaiian Island Reef Assessment and Monitoring Program, ended at Honolulu on 7 October 2002. After making an estimated 281 research cruises over nearly 39 years of service, she was decommissioned on 10 October 2002. She was replaced by NOAAS ''Oscar Elton Sette'' (R 335).

Later career

After NOAA decommissioned ''Townsend Cromwell'', the U.S. Government transferred her to the

Government of American Samoa The government of American Samoa is defined under the Constitution of American Samoa. The United States Congress, in the Ratification Act of 1929, provided that until the Congress shall provide for the Government of the islands of American Samoa a ...

in accordance with Public Law 106–555, Section 204. As MV ''Townsend Cromwell'', she arrived at

Pago Pago Pago Pago ( ; Samoan: )Harris, Ann G. and Esther Tuttle (2004). ''Geology of National Parks''. Kendall Hunt. Page 604. . is the territorial capital of American Samoa. It is in Maoputasi County on Tutuila, which is American Samoa's main island. ...

American Samoa American Samoa ( sm, Amerika Sāmoa, ; also ' or ') is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of the island country of Samoa. Its location is centered on . It is east of the Internationa ...

, in November 2002. The government of American Samoa hoped to use her to carry passengers and light cargo between Manu'a and

Tutuila Tutuila is the main island of American Samoa (and its largest), and is part of the archipelago of Samoan Islands. It is the third largest island in the Samoan Islands chain of the Central Pacific. It is located roughly northeast of Brisbane, A ...

, but she was not certified to perform such services. In January 2003, the American Samoan government announced that it wanted to sell ''Townsend Cromwell'' or exchange her for a more suitable vessel for service to Manu'a.

businessman Michael Swann and a partner purchased ''Townsend Cromwell'' for use as a

. They were convicted in December 2008 of defrauding the Otago District Health Board in New Zealand, and the ship was put up for sale. Purchased by interests in Fiji, she was renamed MV ''Lau Trader'' and departed New Zealand in October 2009. With her home port at Suva, Fiji, and owned and managed by Lau Shipping, ''Lau Trader'' carries passengers and cargo between islands in eastern Fiji.shipspotting.com TOWNSEND CROMWELL - IMO 7309546
/ref>

References