The essays below will help you to understand the goals and objectives of the mission and provide additional context and information about the places being explored and the science, tools, and technologies being used.
By Matt Dornback
June 13-27, NOAA Ocean Exploration will conduct a shakedown of its dual-body remotely operated vehicles (ROVs)Deep Discoverer and Seirios on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer in the Atlantic Ocean between Norfolk, Virginia, and Newport, Rhode Island. The expedition will include engineering test dives in water depths up to approximately 5,000 meters (3.1 miles). ROV dives will be conducted during the day with overnight mapping operations.
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James Delgado, SEARCH Inc.
Melanie Damour, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
Alexis Catsambis, Naval History and Heritage Command
Michael Brennan, SEARCH Inc.
Joe Hoyt, NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries
Alicia Caporaso, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
Chris Horrell, Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement
Doug Jones, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
The shattered, partially crushed remains of a U.S. World War II-era submarine were the focus of the last dive of NOAA Ocean Exploration’s 2021 ROV Shakedown expedition aboard NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer on June 26. Using the hull-mounted multibeam sonar, the mapping team identified two interesting targets on the seabed in approximately 635 meters (2,000 feet ) of water. The targets were in the vicinity of the sinking coordinates provided by the U.S. Navy’s Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC) of a veteran American submarine that had served in two navies between 1942 and 1968. Launched as USS Muskallunge (SS-262) in Groton, Connecticut, in 1942, the Gato-class submarine was one of nearly two hundred mass-produced American submarines, along with the Tench and Balao classes, that helped win World War II at sea.
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In 2023, using video collected during this expedition in 2017, NOAA Ocean Exploration produced a photogrammetry model of the wreck of USS Muskallunge.
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