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Day 1 for A2

January 16, 2017

The research vessel Atlantis II slid off the ways in Baltimore, Maryland, after being christened by WHOI biologist Mary Sears in 1962. The “A2,” as it became known, was named after the original Atlantis, the Institution’s first research vessel and the nation’s first purpose-built oceanographic research vessel. Atlantis II retired in 1996, but the name carries on in the current R/V Atlantis, support ship for the submerisible Alvin. During its research career, Atlantis II, sailed more than one million miles and also carried Alvin on some of its most iconic missions, including the first visit to the wreck of the Titanic.(Photo courtesy of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Archives)