Ships – “The Good Old Days”

Dolly Dieter My opinion only– I have enough for

everyone!!

When Were the Good old Days?!The NSF Experience

• 1960’s – Conversions, Cast-offs, Block-funding –lucky to have a sea-going vessel.

• 1970’s – NSF with Congressional help built 3 intermediate ships. The unlucky operators built with private or state funds.

• 1980’s – NSF built 2 coastal ships. Spurred Institutional interest in R/V ownership. Privately owned vessels added to the fleet. Operational funds could not keeping up with the fleet growth.

• NSF Ships reallocated-based on science needs-bloody.• 1990’s upgrade of Intermediate and global ships – often more

costly then original construction cost. • 2000’s several small privately funded ships constructed.

The Good, The Bad and The UglyPrivate ships joining the fleet

Privately owned ships increased science access to the sea without large outlay of federal funds.

Private ships rarely came fully outfitted for science - thus requiring NSF funding to outfit for science .

Multiple agencies benefitted – but did not help fund outfitting. Maintenance and upgrades were rolled into daily cost—all pay.

Privately purchased ships reimbursed by NSF were often highly specialized and costly to convert.

The Academic Research Fleet

• Sole purpose is to support science at sea – not to operate ships.

• Fleet needs are based on funded science not science interest.

• Need to regularly revisit the science drivers and adjust the fleet accordingly, including new hulls and upgrades.

• Academic Fleet well maintained – but technological upgrades essential to support modern sophisticated science.

• Science demands the same equipment on large or small ships thus ship size tends to grow.

Science Drivers• In the “good old days” science was mainly exploratory – a scientist

used whatever ship was available. Better chance if home Institution operated a ship. Research projects were mainly individual science projects. Block funding – cut corners on ship maintenance .

• Today science is moving more and more toward large multiple –PI projects. Large ships are required to support large programs and large # of investigators.

• Coastal research –is often not geographically possible from large ships, nor requires the duration and number of investigators.

• In the past decade ship time requests have decreased from over 5,000 days/year to 3,000 days/year. Why?? There’s no shortage of science ideas or needs.

What is the Appropriate Fleet?• Various means of bringing ships into the research fleet have been used –

conversions, new construction, purchase of specialized ships and private funding.

• New construction of R/V have been funded by federal agencies, state institutions, privately and a mix of federal and institutional.

• Historically Navy built most of the R/V’s esp. the large ships. NSF and institutions (states) built smaller vessels. Will this continue??

• New construction has the advantage of designing to efficiently support science – but can we continue to wait 30 years for new builds?

• Vessel size is becoming more difficult- need many of the same science capabilities on all classes of R/V. Are the Intermediate or Coastal ships becoming dinosaurs?

• Fleet size has been dwindling. There were 28 ships ten years ago , now 21 ships. Various reasons for this trend but the bottom-line is a decline in the number of ship days and ship funding.

Future Good Old Days• The oceans are a national treasure and responsibility. Need a long

range outlook to support the care and feeding of the oceans.• Need an appropriate infrastructure to support the R&D of the

oceans. All concerned agencies must work together. Not easy with various agency missions and cultures.

• Replacement of an oceanographic research vessel can not be a 30 year process. The US needs a strong plan of continual replacement and upgrade of ships that meets the needs of the scientific community.

• The future fleet may not result in a one for one replacement , but must support the needs of projected funded science.

• Fleet renewal must factor in ancillary capabilities such as AUV’s, ROV’s, gliders, long term moorings and etc.