Sponsored by Mrs. George P. Miller Launched 7 May 1966 Endurance 17 days 0 hours | Commissioned 10 March 1967 Length 53 m Builder Norfolk | |
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Name USC&GS Davidson (CSS 31) Namesake George Davidson (1825-1911), an accomplished geodesist and United States Coast Survey official Operator U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey Fate Transferred to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 3 October 1970 | ||
NOAAS Davidson (S 331) was a survey ship in commission in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) from 1970 to 1989. Prior to her NOAA service, she was in commission in the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey from 1967 to 1970 as USC&GS Davidson (CSS 31), the second Coast and Geodetic Survey ship of the name. She was the only sister ship of NOAAS McArthur (S 330).
Contents
Construction and commissioning
Davidson was built for the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey as a "coastal survey ship" (CSS) and was launched by the Norfolk Shipbuilding and Drydock Company at Norfolk, Virginia, on 7 May 1966, sponsored by Mrs. George P. Miller. The Coast and Geodetic Survey commissioned her on 10 March 1967 as USC&GS Davidson (CSS 31), the second Coast and Geodetic Survey ship to bear the name. When the Coast and Geodetic Survey merged with other agencies to form NOAA on 3 October 1970, she became part of the NOAA fleet as NOAAS Davidson (S 331).
Operations
With her home port at the Pacific Marine Center, Seattle, Washington, Davidson, along with her only sister ship, McArthur, spent her career conducting hydrographic surveys along the United States West Coast; in Alaskan waters, including in Prince William Sound in 1974, Tracy Arm, Endicott Arm, and Skagway Harbor; in San Diego Bay in 1975; and in the Pacific Ocean. She had a Bathymetric Swath Survey System (a stabilized deep-mapping sonar) and a Hydroplot data-recording system.
Taken out of service in 1989, Davidson was stricken in 1997 without ever having been formally decommissioned. After her disposal by NOAA, Davidson was operated for many years by a company in Seattle and with her home port in Sitka, Alaska. She was used as a survey and research vessel in the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean, South America, Alaska, and various locations in the Pacific. She was eventually sold to interests in Nigeria and operates there as a security vessel in the Nigerian offshore oilfields.