NOAAS Mount Mitchell (S 222)
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NOAAS Mount Mitchell (S 222) before renovation
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| History | |
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  U.S. Coast And Geodetic Survey
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| Name: | USC&GS Mount Mitchell (MSS 22) |
| Namesake: | Mount Mitchell in North Carolina |
| Builder: | Aerojet-General Shipyards, Jacksonville, Florida |
| Launched: | 29 November 1966 |
| Commissioned: | 23 March 1968 |
| Fate: | Transferred to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 3 October 1970 |
 NOAA
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| Name: | NOAAS Mount Mitchell (S 222) |
| Namesake: | Previous name retained |
| Acquired: | Transferred from U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey 3 October 1970 |
| Decommissioned: | 1995 |
| Struck: | 1995 |
| Homeport: | Norfolk, Virginia |
| Honors and awards: |
 Department of Commerce Silver Medal 1992 |
| Fate: | Sold 2001 |
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Private ownership
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| Name: | R/V Mt. Mitchell |
| Namesake: | Abbreviated version of previous name |
| Owner: | Mount Mitchell LLC |
| Operator: | Global Seas LLC |
| Acquired: | Purchased 2001 |
| In service: | 2003 |
| Homeport: | Seattle, Washington |
| Identification: |
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| Status: | Active |
| General characteristics (U.S. Government service) | |
| Class and type: | Fairweather-class hydrographic survey ship |
| Tonnage: |
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| Displacement: | 1,800 tons |
| Length: | 70.4 m (231 ft) |
| Beam: | 12.8 m (42 ft) moulded |
| Draft: | 4.4 m (14 ft) maximum |
| Installed power: | 2,400 shaft horsepower (3.2 megawatts) |
| Propulsion: | Two 1,200 hp (0.89 MW) General Motors geared diesel engines, 2 shafts, 107,000 US gallons (410,000 L) fuel; one 200 hp (0.15 MW) Detroit Diesel/Bird Johnson geared through-hull bow thruster |
| Speed: | 12 to 12.5 knots (22.2 to 23.2 km/h) (cruising) |
| Range: | 5,898 nautical miles (10,923 km) |
| Endurance: | 22 days |
| Boats & landing craft carried: |
Three or four 8.8 m (29 ft) survey launches, two motor whaleboats, three Boston Whaler utility boats |
| Complement: | 49 (10 NOAA Corps officers, 4 licensed engineers, and 35 other crew members), plus up to 4 scientists |
| Notes: | Ice-strengthened hull; 300 kilowatts electrical power plus 75-kilowatt emergency generator |
NOAAS Mount Mitchell (S 222) was an American survey vessel in commission in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration from 1970 to 1995. Prior to her NOAA career, she was in commission in the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey as USC&GS Mount Mitchell (MSS 22) from 1968 to 1970. In 2003, she returned to service as the private research ship R/V Mt. Mitchell.
Mount Mitchell was built for the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey as a "medium survey ship" (MSS) at the Aerojet-General Shipyards in Jacksonville, Florida. Launched on 29 November 1966, she was commissioned into the Coast and Geodetic Survey in March 1968 as USC&GS Mount Mitchell (MSS 22). When the Survey merged with other organizations to form NOAA in 1970, she became part of the NOAA fleet as NOAAS Mount Mitchell (S 222). She is the sister ship of NOAAS Fairweather (S 220) and NOAAS Rainier (S 221), which are both still in service with NOAA.
Mount Mitchell operated as a multipurpose vessel. She had an oceanographic laboratory, several echosounders, and an oceanographic winch. She also had a hydroplot data-processing system, as did two of her survey launches.
Mount Mitchell conducted hydrographic surveys on the United States East Coast and in the Caribbean, and served as an oceanographic vessel throughout much of the North Atlantic Ocean on various projects. In the late 1980s she was fitted with a multi-beam sounding system for hydrographic work related to establishing the maritime exclusive economic zone of the United States and discovered Mitchell Dome among other large, economically significant undersea features in the Gulf of Mexico. In 1992 she proceeded to the Persian Gulf to study the effects of the 1990-1991 Persian Gulf War oil spills into the Gulf. After returning to the United States, she resumed operations as a hydrographic survey vessel until decommissioning in 1995.
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