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Oceanus, the Early Days

Brand new and not yet painted, R/V Oceanus arrived at WHOI on November 21, 1975 to cheers and celebration. Funded by the National Science Foundation, the 177-foot ship took its place in the U.S. oceanographic fleet administered by the University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS). Oceanus most often works in the North Atlantic—deploying moorings, studying harmful algae and ocean circulation—but ship and crew can also be found further afield supporting oceanographic research: the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico, across the Atlantic, the Mediterranean, and the Red Sea.
(Photo by Vicky Cullen, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)