The UW operates and maintains the R/V Thomas G. Thompson, which is owned by the U.S. Navy’s Office of Naval Research. It’s one of three such U.S.-based research vessels, built in the early 1990s, that scientists from across the country can use to study marine issues around the world.
The 274-foot Thompson can travel 12,000 miles for up to 60 days on the open sea, but its latest journey is a little closer to home. The Thompson recently sailed from its dock at the College of the Environment’s School of Oceanography, to the Vigor Marine shipyard in south Seattle. It’s time for the vessel’s midlife refit, which will extend the usable life of the Thompson for another quarter-century or so. Upgrading a vessel this large is no small task. It will take nearly a year — and many hours of welding — to replace all six diesel engines, add modern navigation and control systems, and upgrade the plumbing, heating and ventilation.
The Thompson and other vessels in UW’s research fleet make the UW one of the few places where undergraduates can get hands-on field experience aboard a world-class research ship. The Thompson will be back in service by mid-2017, and not a moment too soon: it’s already reserved for research trips that summer.
See the photo essay at UW.edu »