Stef looked forward to sharing details about the ship and reporting in confidence, to those so interested to hear back at home base, all about the successes in the confidential mission of the upcoming voyage. There would be much to report about, especially in describing the research facilities on board the ship. Any scientist could appreciate the thorough description of the facilities on board. It is important to note that this voyage was using the very best equipment.
The R/V with its ice-strengthened hull, has more than 3,500 square feet of laboratory space, composed of several specialized labs and a main lab with direct access to the main deck. A special bio/analytical lab is kept separate to avoid contamination and to precisely control temperatures. A hydro lab on the port side of the R/V's main deck is used for the maintenance of the ROVs (remotely operated vehicles).
The manned submersible has a hangar, located near a wet lab, allowing scientists a place to maintain sampling equipment. The R/V has more lab space on working decks, more hangars for equipment and large gear, and electrical and machine shops. Stef wanted to circle back for closer looks at the submersibles with new technology. Going deeper into the ocean's depths, seemed safer than ever. In addition to the manned submersible and other robotic ones, the ship held four Zodiacs for excursions to shallow waters around the Galapagos Islands and glaciers and Polynesian man-made islands, and to supplement required life boats.
The permanent tools onboard includes many types of displays for navigation, data logging, readouts for the winch, and meteorology info connected to the various labs. The acoustic navigation system uses "pingers" and tracking transponders, and includes an acoustic Doppler current profiler, and a multi-beam echo sounder system for seabed mapping to full ocean depth, with full resolution, coverage, and accuracy. And particularly useful are fume hoods, refrigerators and freezers, and de-ionized distilled water.
The electronic systems aboard the R/V are extensive and cover all contingencies. It has a variety of multi-purpose network computers. Data can be transmitted many ways. Among these are a satellite system known as INMARST, telex, and email. Also, in use are single- side band and VHF radio and weather facsimile. And, gyro compasses and a GPS are used to augment radar and paper charts. There is no problem in being able to accurately determine the ship's position.
Unfortunately, some of the high-tech equipment is found to be potentially hacked, as the United States Navy discovered, back in 2017. The collisions of ships were attributed by some to sophisticated software that could override the information needed to keep ships on course.
Several nations were suspected of having reasons to mess with the Navy, but much was kept top secret. Instead, inadequate training and lax attitudes onboard the vessels were given as reasons for the costly mishaps and lost lives.
Publicly, the training logs of the seamen onboard these vessels were reported as woefully insufficient. And the blame was put on the personnel not the equipment. The evidence continued to grow and change and became forgotten by most. Tragedies that have occurred and could have been preventable are a terrible cost to bear. The best way to deal with them is to learn from them and prevent them from happening again.
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Stealth Journeys with the Steam Mapper
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