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The NOAA Ship Henry B Bigelow is the second vessel in the Fisheries Survey Vessel class of research vessel built to modernize the aging NOAA fleet. The Henry B Bigelow was built by V.T Halter shipyard in Pascagoula, MS and launched on July 8, 2006. She was commissioned on July 16, 2007 at NOAA’s Office of Marine and Aviation Operations, Marine Operation Center Atlantic in Norfolk, VA. The Henry B Bigelow has a length of 209 feet, a breadth of 49.2 feet and a draft of 19.4 feet fully laden. She has a maximum displacement of 2,479 metric tons, a maximum range of 12,000 nautical miles, and a cruising speed of 12 knots with an endurance of 40 days. The ship has a complement of 4 Commission NOAA Corps officer and an Engineering Department consisting of 4 Licensed Engineers with 2 Unlicensed Engineers and 1 Electronics Engineering Technician. There are also 2 Survey Technicians, 1 Electronics Technician, 6 members in the Deck Department and 2 Stewards. There is bunk space on board for 16 scientific personnel. The Henry B Bigelow is equipped with a diesel-electric propulsion system utilizing 4 Caterpillar generators that power 2 main Saldo electric motors. There is 1,891 square feet of laboratory space on board her ranging from a fisheries wet lab to a sophisticated hydroacoustic lab. There is also a hospital capable of handling a wide variety of medical emergencies with 2 dedicated bunks. The vessel is equipped with 6 Rapp Hydema winches used for fishing and deploying hydrographic equipment. She also has 2 Appleton cranes, an aft gantry and a side sampling station A-frame. In early 2009 she will replace the Albatross IV which has carried out bottom trawls surveys on the Northeast coast of the U.S. for over 40 years. The 2 vessels undertook extensive calibration exercises for the better part of 2007 and 2008 in order to keep this important dataset valid. In early 2007 the Henry B Bigelow became one of the world’s quietest research vessel exceeding all standards set forth by the International Council for Ocean Exploration.