RV Gloria Michelle (F7201), sometimes rendered as R/V Gloria Michelle, is an American fisheries research vessel in non-commissioned service in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) fleet since 1980. Prior to her NOAA career, she was a commercial shrimp boat that came into the possession of the United States Government after her seizure for carrying marijuana. Registered as NOAA F7201, Gloria Michelle conducts operations in coastal waters along the northeastern coast of North America.
Construction and acquisition The Diesel Shipbuilding Company built Gloria Michelle at Jacksonville, Florida, in 1974 as a steel-hulled, diesel-powered commercial shrimp boat for use in the Gulf of Mexico. In 1979, the United States Customs Service seized Gloria Michelle after discovering 16 short tons (14.25 long tons; 14.5 metric tons/tonnes) of marijuana in her fish hold, at the time the largest seizure of illegal drugs in the history of Mississippi. After the conclusion of the trial of the people involved in smuggling the marijuana, Gloria Michelle was laid up in a bayou near Biloxi, Mississippi, to await her fate. At about the same time, the Conservation Engineering Group at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) at NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service Gloucester Laboratory in Gloucester, Massachusetts, was looking for a replacement for RV Rorqual, a 40-year-old former United States Army harbor tug the NEFSC used to support its fisheries science activities and its work designing and testing commercial fishing gear. Finding Gloria Michelle well-suited for these endeavors, NOAA acquired her and assigned her to the Conservation Engineering Group at Gloucester. Too small to meet NOAA's criteria for entering commissioned service because she is under 90 feet (27 meters) in length, Gloria Michelle instead entered non-commissioned service with NOAA as RV Gloria Michelle in 1980 after undergoing extensive modifications and upgrades necessary for her to operate as a research vessel. NOAA subsequently sold Gloria Michelle's predecessor Rorqual at public auction.
Characteristics and capabilities Built as a commercial fishing vessel, Gloria Michelle offered many features lacking aboard her predecessor Rorqual. Configured as a stern trawler, she had a larger deck area suitable for research work, a refrigerated fish hold, and a diesel engine offering twice the horsepower of Rorqual's powerplant. Since NOAA acquired her in 1979, Gloria Michelle has undergone extensive modifications and upgrades – including the conversion of her refrigerated fish hold into space for berthing, a laboratory, and a septic system – and now only her hull is original; among equipment NOAA installed aboard her are a winch and an articulated crane for handling and recovering equipment. Her hull is painted deep blue, and her deckhouse is white. Gloria Michelle has a permanently assigned crew of two people, both officers of the NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps, one of them serving as officer-in-charge – who both commands the vessel while she is underway and is her chief administrator when she is in port – and the other as junior officer-in-charge. She can embark up to an additional 14 people for day trips or up to an additional eight people for trips requiring an overnight stay on board. Except on short trips, NOAA usually assigns one or two additional crew members to Gloria Michelle temporarily to assist her two permanently assigned officers in operating the vessel. Additional personnel embarked usually are scientists involved in fisheries research. Gloria Michelle has a five-day endurance, the limiting factor being the supply of food she can carry for her crew and passengers.
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