Commissioned 18 February 1950 Length 28 m Builder Tacoma | Launched 16 January 1950 Endurance 13 days 0 hours | |
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Name FWS John N. Cobb (FWS 1601) Namesake John N. Cobb (1868-1930), American fisheries researcher and first dean of the University of Washington College of Fisheries Fate Transferred to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 3 October 1970 Notes Operated by Fish and Wildlife Service's Bureau of Commercial Fisheries 1956-1970 Name NOAAS John N. Cobb (R 552) | ||
NOAA Ship John N. Cobb (R 552) was a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration research vessel. She was built at Western Boatbuilding Company in Tacoma, Washington. She was launched on January 16, 1950 and placed in service on February 18, 1950, by the Fish and Wildlife Service. When NOAA was established in 1970, she became a part of its fleet.
She had a wooden hull and a total of 13 bunk spaces. The mess room could serve eight for meals. She carried a complement of two NOAA Corps officers, two licensed engineers, and four other crew members, and could accommodate up to four scientists.
The deck equipment featured three winches and one boom crane. This equipment gave John N. Cobb a lifting capacity of up to 4,800 pounds (2,200 kg) as well as 7,200 feet (2,200 m) of cable that could pull up to 14,000 pounds (6,400 kg).
In support of her primary mission of fishery and living marine resource research for the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) division of NOAA, John N. Cobb was equipped with a shallow-water echo sounder, a fishfinder, forward-looking sonar, and netsonde. She had a single laboratory of 150 square feet (14 m2). She carried a 17-foot (5.2 m) fiberglass boat for utility and rescue purposes. She could conduct bottom trawls down to depths of over 300 fathoms (1,800 ft; 550 m).
With her home port at NOAA's Marine Operations Center-Pacific (MOC-P) in Seattle, Washington, and operated by NOAA's Office of Marine and Aviation Operations, John N. Cobb conducted research off southeastern Alaska and the Pacific Northwest of the United States. She supported research of the NMFS Auke Bay Laboratory in Juneau, Alaska, collecting fish and crustacean specimens using trawls and benthic longlines; and fish larvae, fish eggs, and plankton using plankton nets and surface and mid-water larval nets. Scientists from the National Marine Mammal Laboratory in Seattle also conducted surveys of whales, porpoise, and seals while aboard John N. Cobb.
John N. Cobb's 50th anniversary in the fleets of NOAA and its predecessors was celebrated in 2000, and she was the oldest NOAA ship when she was finally placed out of service on August 13, 2008.
John N. Cobb was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on February 11, 2009. She is located at the Goldstar Marina in Port Townsend, Washington, pending seizure by the city and eventual scrap.