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NOAA Commissioned Corps

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Officer Corps
NOAA Commissioned Corps.png
Seal of the NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps
Active 22 May 1917 – present
Country  United States of America
Branch NOAA
Type Uniformed service
Size 379 officers
16 ships, 10 aircraft
Part of U.S. Department of Commerce
Garrison/HQ Silver Spring, Maryland, U.S.
Nickname(s) "NOAA Corps"
Motto(s) "Science, service, stewardship."
Colors          Blue, White
March "Forward with NOAA"
Engagements
Commanders
Director, NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps RADM David A. Score
Deputy Director, NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps RDML Anita L. Lopez
Director, Office of Coast Survey RDML Shepard M. Smith
Notable
commanders
COL Ernest Lester Jones
RADM Raymond Stanton Patton
VADM H. Arnold Karo
RADM William L. Stubblefield
RADM Evelyn J. Fields
RADM Samuel P. De Bow, Jr.
VADM Michael S. Devany
Insignia
Flag
Flag of the NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps.png
Aircraft flown
Reconnaissance WP-3D, AC-695A, G-IV, DHC-6

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Officer Corps, known informally as the NOAA Corps, is one of seven federal uniformed services of the United States, and operates under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), a scientific agency overseen by the Department of Commerce. The NOAA Corps is made up of scientifically and technically trained officers and is the smallest of the U.S. uniformed services. It is one of only two––the other being the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps––that consists only of commissioned officers, with no enlisted or warrant officer ranks.

Established in 1970, the NOAA Corps is the successor to the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey Corps (1917–1965), and the United States Environmental Science Services Administration Commissioned Officer Corps (ESSA Corps) (1965–1970).

The NOAA Corps is the smallest of the seven uniformed services of the United States Government. It has over 300 commissioned officers, but no enlisted or warrant officer personnel. The NOAA Corps today provides a cadre of professionals trained in engineering, earth sciences, oceanography, meteorology, fisheries science, and other related disciplines. NOAA Corps officers operate NOAA ships, fly NOAA aircraft, manage research projects, conduct diving operations, and serve in staff positions throughout NOAA, as well as in positions in the United States Department of Defense, the United States Coast Guard, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the United States Department of State. Like its predecessors, the Coast and Geodetic Survey Corps and the ESSA Corps, the NOAA Corps provides a ready source of technically skilled officers which can be incorporated into the U.S. armed forces in time of war, and in peacetime supports defense requirements in addition to its purely civilian scientific projects. While civilian personnel could perform many of its functions, the advantage of the NOAA Corps as a commissioned service is the quick response time of its personnel, which NOAA can shift among projects and to various places around the world as the need arises more quickly and more easily than it could by reassigning or hiring civilian personnel to meet new or changing requirements.


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Wikipedia

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