NOAA BIDS FAREWELL TO AN OLD FRIEND:
TOWNSEND CROMWELL to be decommissioned Oct. 10

October 16, 2002 — About 100 crew members, scientists and friends gathered Oct. 10 to bid farewell to the NOAA ship TOWNSEND CROMWELL, which has served the nation from its home port in Honolulu, Hawaii, for nearly 40 years.

The ship was decommissioned in a ceremony that officially relieves the command, crew and fleet commanders of duty in sailing the federal ship in service to the country. The ceremony, which was also a time to reflect on the ship’s service and accomplishments, was an emotional experience for many of CROMWELL’s longtime users.

“It is always sad when a ship is taken off line, especially to the scientists and crew who have been with the ship for a long time,” said RADM Nick Prahl, director of the Marine Operations Center, which oversees the operation and management of NOAA ships. “It is like seeing the house in which you grew up being demolished.”

Many will be glad to know that the old ship will not be destroyed, but will simply enter a new phase of service elsewhere. Congress included language in an appropriations bill directing NOAA to turn TOWNSEND CROMWELL over to the government of American Samoa, which plans to employ it within the country’s territorial waters.

TOWNSEND CROMWELL was built in 1963 for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Bureau of Commercial Fisheries and named after the Oceanographer for the Pacific Ocean Fisheries Investigation Office in Honolulu (now NOAA Fisheries’ Honolulu Laboratory), who served in that position from 1949 to 1953. Townsend Cromwell died in a plane crash in 1958 on his way to join an oceanographic expedition.

Cromwell’s daughter, Kim Cromwell, now a writer living in Carlsbad, Calif., remembers attending the commissioning ceremony with her family.

“The commissioning of the TOWNSEND CROMWELL was a day of great significance to our family because it was a memorial that made a connection between the father we loved and the ocean he loved,” she said. “One of the stories told about my father was when he was a boy and he wanted to go fishing with his brother and his brother’s friends. They were in high school and they didn’t want him to go. They’d take off and my father would swim out and hang onto the boat. They would hit him with the oars, bloodying his knuckles and, as the story, goes, it took a lot to persuade him to let go. He never really did let go. His love for the ocean was a passion and that became his life’s work.”

It is only fitting, then, that the ship bearing his name served so long doing the work Cromwell loved. TOWNSEND CROMWELL was decommissioned in 1973, but recommissioned in 1975 when the ship was transferred to NOAA. It has continued to sail the waters throughout the Central and Western Pacific, supporting the scientific missions of NOAA Fisheries’ Honolulu Laboratory.

The 163-ft. ship has been used for a variety of missions, such as conducting fisheries assessment surveys, physical and chemical oceanography, coral reef research and marine mammal projects. It has collected fish and crustacean specimens using bottom trawls, longlines, and fish traps, and collected plankton, fish larvae and eggs with plankton nets and surface and mid-water larval nets. CROMWELL and its SCUBA divers have been actively involved in NOAA Fisheries’ coral reef restoration cruises, which concentrate scientific efforts on the removal, classification and density of marine debris and discarded commercial fishing gear from fragile coral reefs. Marine debris can be devastating to the environment, marine life, shipping and tourism. It trashes beaches and affects tourism, fouls boat propellers and intakes, and harms marine life, which may eat or become entangled in it. CROMWELL divers have removed tons of discarded fishing gear–which is just a small percentage of marine debris–off fragile coral reef systems.

TOWNSEND CROMWELL’s final cruise, which ended October 7, was for the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Reef Assessment and Monitoring Program. On this voyage of discovery, scientists found species never seen before in the region and a previously unknown shipwreck site, as well as studied more than 50 shipwrecks scattered across the reefs and shoals.

According to Rusty Brainard of the Honolulu Laboratory, who was chief scientist aboard CROMWELL, “The goal of these multi-disciplinary surveys was to simultaneously examine the condition and health of the fish, corals, algae and invertebrates of these complex and diverse reef ecosystems in the context of their benthic (sea floor) and oceanographic habitats, which change over time.”

So what happens to this valuable research when TOWNSEND CROMWELL retires?

OSCAR ELTON SETTE, a former Navy T-AGOS ship built in 1988 that NOAA recently completed converting to a fisheries research vessel, arrived at its new home port in Honolulu. CROMWELL’s specialized equipment and gear will be transferred to the newer ship over the next several weeks. Most of the crew members will transfer to SETTE as well.

CDR Ken Barton, NOAA Corps, who took command of TOWNSEND CROMWELL in July, left in late August to sail the 224-ft. SETTE to Hawaii. He officially assumed command of SETTE on October 1. He said that, “SETTE will be replacing TOWNSEND CROMWELL this fall and doing nearly identical fisheries research throughout the Hawaiian Island chain and the tropical and equatorial Pacific.”

“It is very exciting for all of us as we get this new ship,” Barton added. “We will be able to take out more scientists—up to 18—and with the new lab space aboard, we’ll be able to accomplish more work at sea.”

The new vessel will have more advanced research and navigational capabilities, better living quarters, greater reliability, and will not require the extensive maintenance required of the CROMWELL.

Yet many are sad to see TOWNSEND CROMWELL’s service come to an end. According to Wende Goo of the Honolulu Lab, “There is much Aloha for the CROMWELL by not only former and existing laboratory staff, but by many other state, federal and local agencies, and non-governmental organizations.” She said that the decommissioning ceremony gave people an opportunity to reminisce by encouraging them to tell stories about their experiences aboard.

Perhaps most likely to be affected are the crew members who spent day in and day out aboard the vessel. It was most eloquently stated by Nathan Hill, current Master of TOWNSEND CROMWELL, who has in the past also served as executive officer.

“In my three years of service on the NOAA Ship TOWNSEND CROMWELL, what has always struck me is the deep personal attachment that each member of the crew, past and present, has to the ship. I've had occasions to talk to crew members and scientists who have sailed on the CROMWELL since her launching in 1963, and all speak about the ship in ways that one might talk about a good friend or even a family member. I know that sentiment is shared by her present crew, because I see it every day in the way people go about their duties, operating and maintaining the vessel.

“During the TOWNSEND CROMWELL's 39 years of service, many crew members and scientists have come and gone. Each person has left a piece of themselves aboard and have, over time, contributed to the personality or atmosphere of this ship. The TOWNSEND CROMWELL has always been unique among NOAA's ships for her distinctly Hawaiian shipboard culture and a great mix of fun and hard work.

“No ship could sail for thirty-nine years unless her crew was dedicated to her. However, just as the crew members have taken care of the ship over a span of four decades, so has the NOAA Ship TOWNSEND CROMWELL always taken care of her crew and, in the end, what more can be said of any ship?”

Relevant Web Sites
Detailed information about NOAA Ship TOWNSEND CROMWELL

General Information about the NOAA Ship TOWNSEND CROMWELL

Photo of Mr. Townsend Cromwell

NOAA's Office of Marine and Aviation Operations

The NOAA Fleet

NOAA Fisheries’ Honolulu Laboratory

NOAA Ship Townsend Cromwell: Student Connection

NOAA's Marine Mammal Projects

NOAA's Coral Reef Restoration Activities

NOAA's Marine Debris Coloring Book

NOAA's Coral Reef Page

Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Reef Assessment and Monitoring Program

OSCAR ELTON SETTE: WRITTEN STATEMENT OF VICE ADMIRAL CONRAD C. LAUTENBACHER, JR. USN (RET) UNDER SECRETARY FOR OCEANS AND ATMOSPHERE ADMINISTRATOR, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE BEFORE THE U.S. COMMISSION ON OCEAN POLICY May 13, 2002

Media Contact:
Jeanne Kouhestani, NOAA Office of Marine and Aviation Operations, (301) 713-3431 ext. 220