NOAAS Oscar Dyson

Oscar Dyson was built by VT Halter Marine at Moss Point, Mississippi, and launched on 17 October 2003. The ship was sponsored by Peggy Dyson-Malson, a ship-to-shore weather broadcaster for the National Weather Service in Kodiak, Alaska from 1974 and 1999 and the widow of the ship's namesake, Alaskan fisherman and fishing industry leader Oscar E. Dyson. Delivered to NOAA on 1 August 2004, == Characteristics and capabilities ==

Capable of conducting multidisciplinary oceanographic operations in support of biological, chemical, and physical process studies, Oscar Dyson was commissioned as the first of a class of five of the most advanced fisheries research vessels in the world, with a unique capability to conduct both fishing and oceanographic research. She is a stern trawler with fishing capabilities similar to those of commercial fishing vessels. She is rigged for longlining and trap fishing and can conduct trawling operations to depths of . Her most advanced feature is the incorporation of acoustic quieting technology to enable NOAA scientists to monitor fish populations without the ships noise altering the behavior of the fish. Her oceanographic hydrophones are mounted on a retractable centerboard, or drop keel, that lowers scientific transducers away from the region of hull-generated flow noise, enhancing the quality of the data collected. To take full advantage of these advanced data-gathering capabilities, she has the Scientific Sonar System, which can accurately measure the biomass of fish in a survey area. She also has an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler with which to collect data on ocean currents and a multibeam sonar system that provides information on the content of the water column and on the type and topography of the seafloor while she is underway, and she can gather hydrographic data at any speed up to 11 knots (20 km/h). Oscar Dyson has a traction-type oceanographic winch which can deploy up to of 17-mm (0.67-inch) wire rope or other cable, including fiberoptic cable. She also has two hydrographic winches, each of which can deploy of 9.5-mm (3/8-inch) EM cable, two trawl winches, each of which can deploy of cable, and a Gilson winch. She has a telescopic boom with a lifting capacity of 6,250 pounds (2,835 kg) aft and a fixed boom with a lifting capacity of at her bow. She has an A-frame on her starboard side with a safe working load of and a large A-frame aft. The oceanographic winch and large after A-frame work in conjunction to serve her stern sampling station, while the two hydrographic winches work with the side A-frame to service her side sampling station, and the two hydrographic winches together give Oscar Dyson the capability to have two scientific packages ready for sequential operations. In addition to trawling, her sampling stations can deploy smaller sampling nets, longlines, and fish traps. The hydrographic winches can deploy CTD instruments to measure the electrical conductivity, temperature, and chlorophyll fluorescence of sea water. Oscar Dyson also can deploy specialized gear such as Multiple Opening/Closing Net and Environmental Sensing System (MOCNESS) frames, towed vehicles, dredges, and bottom corers, and she can deploy and recover both floating and bottom-moored sensor arrays. Oscar Dyson has various laboratory capabilities. A wet laboratory, a dry laboratory, a biology laboratory, and a hydrographic laboratory all are situated on the starboard side of her main deck, while an electronics and computer laboratory are on the port side of her main deck. Her wet laboratory includes a climate-controlled space with a built-in chiler system. Oscar Dyson carries two boats. Her survey launch has a 260-horsepower (194-kW) motor and can accommodate up to eight people. Her rescue boat has a 256-horsepower (191-kW) motor and can carry up to six people. Designed for operations in Alaskan waters, Oscar Dyson has an ice-strengthened welded-steel hull. In addition to her crew of 24, she can accommodate up to 15 scientists. == Service history ==

Operated by NOAAs Office of Marine and Aviation Operations and with Kodiak as her home port, Oscar Dysons primary purpose is to support NOAA's mission of protecting, restoring, and managing the use of living marine, coastal, and ocean resources. She conducts projects for NOAA's Alaska Fisheries Science Center and the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, studying and monitoring Alaskan pollock and other fisheries in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska. She makes weather and sea state observations, conducts oceanographic research and habitat assessments, and surveys marine mammal and seabird populations. On 30 April and 1 May 2017, Oscar Dyson surveyed an area in the Bering Sea off Dalnoi Point on the northwestern tip of St. George Island in the Pribilof Islands in a search for the wreck of the crab-fishing boat Destination, which had capsized and sunk in the area with the loss of her entire crew of six men on 11 February 2017. She did not find the wreck, but her survey narrowed the search area for the NOAA research ship , which discovered the wreck in about of water during a survey on 8 and 9 July 2017. in a protective cradle in a davit aboard Oscar Dyson in Puget Sound in January 2023. During a three-day cruise in Puget Sound in January 2023, Oscar Dyson tested NOAA's DriX uncrewed surface vehicle, using a protective cradle lowered from her davits to launch and recover it. Launching and recovery of the vehicle was successful, and scientists aboard Oscar Dyson successfully testing the vehicle's acoustic sensors. On 18 June 2025, NOAA announced that it had awarded a $95,408,666 contract to JAG Alaska, Inc., of Seward, Alaska, for extensive upgrades and maintenance work on Oscar Dyson intended to extend her service life by replacing her propulsion system with variable-speed, Tier 4 generators, installing quiet air conditioning motors and updated technology for her science missions, replacing pumps, fans, cranes, and her fire detection system and radars, and increasing the number of single-person staterooms aboard. The ship will become the second ship in the fleet to receive the new paint job to align the NOAA fleet with the aircraft design, a controversial initiative started by VADM Hann. Many mariners have reported being unhappy with this decision citing the aircraft lack of integration to NOAA fleet. NOAA expected the work to take about a year, planning for it to begin after Oscar Dyson completed the 2026 field season and expecting her to return to service in time for the 2028 field season. To allow its research activities in Alaska to continue seamlessly in the meantime, NOAA planned to outfit the research ship for Arctic service and deploy her to Alaskan waters while Oscar Dyson was in the shipyard. ==See also==