Amid Fanfare, NOAA Ship PISCES Successfully Launched

Jeanne G. Kouhestani
Office of Marine & Aviation Operations (OMAO)

Ship PISCES makes her entrance into the marine world with a big splash.
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(Credit: Ray Broussard for NOAA)

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The 208-ft. ship seemed enormous as she loomed above the steel launchway at the shipyard’s edge. She was christened with a spray of champagne with one hard swing of the bottle by Dr. Annette Nevin Shelby, professor emerita at Georgetown University and wife of Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama. Then, at the blast of two tugboat horns, the vessel slid down the launchway and fell on her side into the Escatawpa River. The noise of the horns and huge wave of displaced water obscured the collective sigh of relief as spectators watched the ship roll back up and float safely upright on the river. The sound of cheers mixed with the Navy band's rendition of Anchors Away in celebration of the successful launch of NOAA Ship PISCES.

The December 19 christening and launch of the third of NOAA’s four planned fisheries survey vessels (FSVs) of the same class at the VT Halter Marine shipyard in Moss Point, Miss., marked an exciting milestone in NOAA's efforts to recapitalize the fleet. Like her sister ships, PISCES is state-of-the-art, a new class designed specifically to meet the mission requirements of NOAA Fisheries as well as tough international standards for quiet operation. The ship, to be home ported in Pascagoula, Miss., when completed, will be so quiet as she monitors the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea, and U.S. southeastern seaboard that she won't scare away the fish she is meant to study. Her capabilities will far exceed those of older NOAA ships, including Pascagoula-based OREGON II.

“The christening and launch of PISCES is a major step in the revitalization of our NOAA fleet,” said retired Navy Vice Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher Jr., Ph.D., under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. “This new ultra quiet ship continues our course for the future of fisheries and marine ecosystem research in the region.”

The FSV was named by a team of students from Sacred Heart School in Southaven, Miss., which won a regional NOAA contest to name the ship and subsequently participated in her keel laying ceremony in June 2006. The contest was an educational initiative to help students learn more about their region’s marine and coastal environment as well as to generate a greater interest in scientific studies.

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