THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 26, 1995 TAG: 9510260467
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CHRISTOPHER DINSMORE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 90 lines
Faced with shrinking budgets, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration retired two charting vessels Wednesday in Norfolk.
About 100 current and retired NOAA officers, former seamen and their families gathered at NOAA's Atlantic Marine Center on the Elizabeth River for the retirement ceremony for the 231-foot Mount Mitchell and the 90-foot Heck. Both vessels, white ships visible from the Brambleton Avenue bridge over The Hague, have actively mapped sea lanes and underwater obstructions in U.S. waters and have done other ocean research for more than 25 years. With these retirements, only three NOAA surveying ships remain in service to map all U.S. waters on the East, West and Gulf of Mexico coasts and the Great Lakes.
The retirements come at a time when shipping interests in the country are criticizing Congress for cutting NOAA's budget. NOAA has been unable to maintain up-to-date charts of U.S. waters for years, they say, and the retirements will only make the matter worse.
``We're just not doing the job,'' Douglas Hall, the Commerce Department's assistant secretary for oceans and atmosphere, admitted recently. Hall oversees NOAA. ``Many of our charts are pre-World War II.''
Antiquated charts are a danger to both commercial and recreational navigation. Just last year, NOAA found a cargo container that fell off a ship standing on end in the main channel into the port of Hampton Roads that could have damaged the hulls of some larger ships. Many cargo ships now sailing U.S. waters use more current charts available from the British Admiralty.
James Provo, president of the National Association of Maritime Organizations and senior vice president at T. Parker Host Inc., a Norfolk-based ship's agency, has called the situation ``ludicrous.'' Provo understands the need to cut budgets, but he said some things can't afford to be cut.
The charts NOAA makes are considered excellent, but its few vessels are spread too thin to maintain thorough charts of U.S. waters.
NOAA is experimenting with privatizing chart-making. It hired a division of Science Applications International Corp. to map Long Island Sound.
``NOAA is very much aware of its responsibility in providing safe and up-to-date charts of U.S. waters to the maritime industry,'' said Rear Adm. William L. Stubblefield, director of the Office of NOAA Corps Operations. ``It is not our intent to diminish the extent of surveying.''
But some NOAA officers privately express concern that making a profit and drawing a complete chart won't mix. Chart-making requires thoroughness, while earning a profit requires cutting corners to keep costs down.
``We don't really know until we use the private sector,'' Stubblefield said. ``It's unfair to say what the private sector can do until we give it a chance.''
NOAA will compare the quality and cost-effectiveness of charts made by its surveying vessels with those of private companies, Stubblefield said. ``Like in all things, the government is looking for the most efficient way to conduct its business,'' he said.
Stubblefield suggested that new technologies available to both NOAA and private-sector companies will permit charts to be made faster and more completely than in the past.
The Mount Mitchell was continuously updated with the latest surveying technology throughout its career. Built at Florida's Jacksonville Shipyard Inc., it was commissioned in 1968. For much of its career the Mount Mitchell and its 54-person crew was homeported in Norfolk.
In 1992 the Mount Mitchell traveled to the Middle East to assess damage done to the Persian Gulf during the war with Iraq.
The Heck was built at a Long Island shipyard and brought into service in 1967. The Heck and its 11-person crew charted the ocean bottom by pulling a wire strung between it and a sister ship at a set depth. The ship's wire once snagged a submarine and, fortunately, snapped before dragging the Heck under, NOAA officials said.
Both ships will remain berthed at NOAA's center in Norfolk until they are sold by the General Services Administration.
``Mount Mitchell and Heck have now been stripped and are cold pieces of steel with unknown futures,'' Stubblefield said. ``But their spirit and tradition, and that of those who served aboard these two ships, will live forever.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photos]
BILL TIERNAN
The Virginian-Pilot
ABOVE: The Mount Mitchell was retired Wednesday along with the Heck,
another National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration vessel.
BELOW: Kenneth A. MacDonald, the first captain of the Mount
Mitchell, salutes as the flag is lowered at the ceremony in
Morfolk.
by CNB