RV Knorr

R/V "Knorr" is a research vessel is owned by the U.S. Navy and operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution for the U.S. research community. "Knorr" is best known as the ship that supported researchers on September 1, 1985 as they discovered the wreck of the RMS "Titanic". R/V "Knorr" (AGOR-15) has traveled more than a million miles—the rough equivalent of two round trips to the Moon or forty trips around the Earth. Her sister ship is the R/V "Melville".

History

R/V "Knorr" was named in honor of Ernest R. Knorr, a distinguished hydrographic engineer and cartographer who was appointed Chief Engineer Cartographer of the U.S. Navy Hydrographic office in 1860. Chief Engineer Knorr was one of the leaders of the Navy’s first systematic charting and surveying effort from 1860 to 1885. She was launched in 1968 at the Defoe Shipbuilding Company in Bay City, Michigan, "Knorr" was delivered to Woods Hole in 1970. For her early life, she had Voith-Schneider propellersFact|date=August 2007. She was completely overhauled between 1989 and 1991 adding convert|34|ft|m of length to her midsection [http://www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=11458&tid=201&cid=17872&ct=362] .

The ship has anti-roll tanks and an ice-strengthened bow enabling her to work in all of the world’s oceans. She can take a crew of 22 and a scientific party of 34 to sea for as long as 60 days. "Knorr" was designed to accommodate a wide range of oceanographic tasks, with two instrument hangars and eight scientific work areas; a fully equipped machine shop; three oceanographic winches; and two cranes. "Knorr" is equipped with sophisticated navigation and satellite communication systems, as well as a dynamic positioning system that allows the ship to move in any direction and to maintain a fixed position in high winds and rough seas. [http://www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=11458&tid=201&cid=17872&ct=362]

In 2005–2006, the ship was refitted to support a new “long-coring” system that can extract convert|150|ft|m|0|sing=on plugs of ancient sediments from the sea floor. Weighing nearly 25,000 pounds, the new piston-coring system is the longest in the U.S. research fleet (twice as long as existing systems). "Knorr" and its long-corer will allow scientists to sample deep, ancient sediments that are rich with historical information about the ocean and climate.

pecifications

*Laboratory space: 256 sq. meters (2,756 sq ft)
*Gross Tons: 2,518

External links

* [http://www.whoi.edu/marops/research_vessels/knorr/index.html WHOI Marine Operations – R/V "Knorr"]
* [http://divediscover.whoi.edu/tools/knorr.html Dive and Discover - Oceanographic Tools]
* [http://www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=8581 Where is "Knorr" Now?]