{"id":21364,"date":"2025-12-05T20:02:32","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T20:02:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/?p=21364"},"modified":"2025-12-05T20:02:32","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T20:02:32","slug":"noaa-holds-keel-laying-ceremony-for-navigator-its-second-new-charting-and-mapping-vessel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/?p=21364","title":{"rendered":"NOAA holds keel-laying ceremony for Navigator, its second new charting and mapping vessel"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>    NOAA holds keel-laying ceremony for Navigator, its second new charting and mapping vessel<br \/>\n \t<BR><br \/>\n<BR><\/BR><br \/>\n    <!-- no image --><br \/>\n \t<BR><br \/>\n<BR><\/BR><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.noaa.gov\/\">NOAA<\/a>) leaders were joined by partners Dec.4 to celebrate the keel-laying for <em>Navigator<\/em>, the second of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marinelog.com\/shipbuilding\/shipyards\/shipyard-news\/thoma-sea-wins-624-6-million-noaa-research-vessel-order\/\">two new charting and mapping vessels <\/a>being constructed for the agency by Thoma-Sea Marine Constructors, LLC., in Houma, La.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed alignleft is-type-wp-embed is-provider-marine-log wp-block-embed-marine-log\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"2aIwKnEKjQ\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.marinelog.com\/shipbuilding\/shipyards\/shipyard-news\/thoma-sea-wins-624-6-million-noaa-research-vessel-order\/\">Thoma-Sea wins $624.6 million NOAA research vessel order<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" title=\"\u201cThoma-Sea wins $624.6 million NOAA research vessel order\u201d \u2014 Marine Log\" src=\"https:\/\/www.marinelog.com\/shipbuilding\/shipyards\/shipyard-news\/thoma-sea-wins-624-6-million-noaa-research-vessel-order\/embed\/#?secret=4CerKwfbCL#?secret=2aIwKnEKjQ\" data-secret=\"2aIwKnEKjQ\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The keel for the first, <em>Surveyor, w<\/em>as laid in a ceremony at T<a href=\"https:\/\/www.marinelog.com\/shipbuilding\/shipyards\/shipyard-news\/noaa-holds-keel-laying-ceremony-at-thoma-sea\/\">homa-Sea held back in August.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The keel-laying is a centuries-old maritime tradition that formally recognizes the start of a ship\u2019s construction. During yesterdzy\u2019s ceremony, the initials of the ship\u2019s sponsor, NOAA Corps Rear Adm. Evelyn Fields (ret.), were welded onto a steel plate that will be incorporated into the ship during construction.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNOAA\u2019s investments in data collection platforms, like Navigator, are integral to understanding and predicting our environment,\u201d said Neil Jacobs, Ph.D., undersecretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. \u201cNOAA, and our science mission, is also proud to support the Maritime Industrial Base and our nation\u2019s shipbuilding economy. We look forward to Navigator\u2019s completion and the ability to incorporate emerging technologies like uncrewed systems, to help NOAA meet its mission.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In 2023, NOAA announced the addition of two new charting and mapping vessels to the NOAA fleet. <em>Surveyor <\/em>is expected to be completed in 2027 and <em>Navigator i<\/em>n 2028. The ships will be used primarily for ocean mapping and nautical charting as part of NOAA\u2019s mission to deliver tools and information to help mariners safely navigate the $2.3 trillion worth of cargo that comes in and out of the nation\u2019s ports and harbors.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMariners navigating U.S. waters depend on NOAA charts,\u201d said NOAA Corps Rear Adm. Chad Cary, director of the NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps and NOAA Marine and Aviation Operations. \u201cThese new, state-of-the-art ships will ensure that we can continue to meet our mission to support safe navigation in established waters as well as evolving regions like the Arctic for decades to come.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The vessel\u2019s name, <em>Navigator<\/em>, highlights one of NOAA\u2019s central missions: facilitating the safe navigation of mariners throughout U.S. waters. The Navigator will be homeported in Newport, Oregon.<\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marinelog.com\/news\/noaa-holds-keel-laying-ceremony-for-navigator-its-second-new-charting-and-mapping-vessel\/\">NOAA holds keel-laying ceremony for Navigator, its second new charting and mapping vessel<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marinelog.com\/\">Marine Log<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> \t<BR><br \/>\n <BR><\/BR><br \/>\n    Marine Log Staff<br \/>\n \t<BR><br \/>\n<BR><\/BR><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.marinelog.com\/news\/noaa-holds-keel-laying-ceremony-for-navigator-its-second-new-charting-and-mapping-vessel\/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=noaa-holds-keel-laying-ceremony-for-navigator-its-second-new-charting-and-mapping-vessel\">Go to marinelog<\/a><br \/>\n \t<BR><br \/>\n <BR><\/BR><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NOAA holds keel-laying ceremony for Navigator, its second new charting and mapping vessel National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) leaders were joined by partners Dec.4 to celebrate the keel-laying for Navigator, the second of two new charting and mapping vessels being constructed for the agency by Thoma-Sea Marine Constructors, LLC., in Houma, La. Thoma-Sea wins [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[192,7234,199,985,285,7235],"tags":[193],"class_list":["post-21364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-marinelog","category-navigator","category-news","category-noaa","category-shipyard-news","category-thoma-sea","tag-marinelog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21364"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21364"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21364\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}