Midlife Refit of Research Vessel Roger Revelle Completed

Upgrades improve scientific capabilities and extend life of one of the most capable ships in U.S. academic fleet Research vessel (R/V) Roger Revelle is back at work after a midlife refit involving upgrades from top to bottom, bow to stern. The primary goal of extending the service life by 15 to 20 years was accomplished with improvements to systems crucial to the vessel's operations, scientific capabilities, habitability, and environmental footprint. The ship is owned by the Office of Naval Research and has been operated by Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego since 1996. It is one of the largest ships in the U.S. Academic Research Fleet, and vitally important to U.S. oceanographic research due to its range, payload, duration and ability to safely conduct scientific operations in remote areas around the globe. " Roger Revelle isn't just revitalized, it is better than new,' said Bruce Appelgate, associate director and head of ship operations at Scripps Oceanography. "The midlife refit was an opportunity to apply everything we've learned about the ship since 1996, in order to make a great research vessel even more effective.' The $60 million refit, which includes the base refit cost and investment in scientific systems and instrumentation, was supported by the Office of Naval Research (ONR), National Science Foundation (NSF) and UC San Diego. "The partnership between the National Science Foundation and the Office of Naval Research in supporting the global class vessels is one of the most important federal alliances the Division of Ocean Science has made in safeguarding our critical sea-going science missions,' said Rose Dufour, NSF Program Director.