Atlantis

The research vessel R/V Atlantis is owned by the U.S. Navy and is part of the University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS). it is specifically outfitted for launching and servicing the Alvin human occupied submersible. Atlantis, operated by Whoods Hole Oceanographic Institute is part of a class of research vessels (AGOR) designed and built by Halter Marine of Pascagoula, Mississippi. Her sister ships are R/V Thomas G. Thompson, operated by the University of Washington, and R/V Roger Revelle, operated by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

The ship carries a complement of 36 crew members, science technicians, deep submergence group members, and 24 members of the science team. It routinely spends the summer in the NE Pacific working at black smoker vent systems along the Juan de Fuca Ridge. Atlantis is the namesake of WHOI’s first research vessel, a 142-foot, steel-hulled, ketch-rigged ship that sailed 299 cruises and more than 700,000 miles for ocean science from 1931 to 1966. The Institution’s flagship and symbol was the first American ship built specifically for research in marine biology, marine geology, and physical oceanography. The space shuttle Atlantis was named for the original WHOI research vessel. For additional information see http://www.whoi.edu