NOAAS Miller Freeman (R 223) was an American fisheries and oceanographic research vessel that was in commission in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) fleet from 1975 to 2013. Prior to her NOAA career, she was in commission in the United States Fish and Wildlife Service's Bureau of Commercial Fisheries from 1967 to 1970 as US FWS Miller Freeman.
Construction and commissioning Miller Freeman was designed in 1965 to meet the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries' need for a large vessel for oceanographic research and the open-ocean investigation of fisheries. She was built for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service by the American Shipbuilding Company in Toledo, Ohio. She was launched on 2 April 1966 and delivered in June 1967, and she was commissioned into service into the Fish and Wildlife Service's Bureau of Commercial Fisheries as US FWS Miller Freeman.
Characteristics and capabilities When completed in 1967, Miller Freeman was the largest research ship in the history of the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries and its ancestor organizations, and she remained one of the largest research trawlers in the United States throughout her career. Her stern-ramp configuration allowed her to conduct trawling operations in deep-sea waters. Miller Freeman had two cranes with a maximum lifting capacity of 8,500 pounds (3,856 kg) and a third crane with a lifting capacity of 2,750 pounds (1,250 kg). She had three A-frames; one of them is a 29.5-foot (9.0-meter) trawl gantry and the other two are 14.5-foot (4.4-meter) Oceo A-frames. She also had twelve winches, one with a maximum safe working load of 40,000 pounds (18,000 kg), one with a maximum safe working load of 23,000 pounds (10,000 kg), two with maximum safe working loads of 22,000 pounds (10,000 kg), two with maximum safe working loads of 18,000 pounds (8,200 kg), one with a maximum safe working load of 3,550 pounds (1,610 kg), two with maximum safe working loads of 3,300 pounds (1,500 kg), and two with maximum safe working loads of 1,150 pounds (520 kg). Miller Freeman had various laboratory capabilities, including s 300-square-foot (sq.-ft.) (27.9-square-meter) (m²) wet laboratory, a 300-sq.-ft. (27.9-m²) fish-processing laboratory, a 240-sq.-ft. (22.3-m²) rough laboratory, a 170-sq.-ft. (15.8-m²) ocean chemistry laboratory, and a 152-sq.-ft.(14.1-m²) acoustics laboratory. She also had a 220-sq.ft. (20.4-m²) data plot room and a 50-sq.-ft. (4.6-m²) autosalinomater room. She was outfitted with a large live-tank system which allowed scientists to sustain live sea specimens under pressure aboard ship. Miller Freeman carried three boats: a 26-foot (7.9-meter) Hammerhead Munson Launch with a capacity of nine people, a 185-horsepower (138-kW) motor and a top speed of 21 knots; a five-person rigid-hulled inflatable boat with a 130-horsepower (97-kW) Hamilton jet inboard motor capable of 40 miles per hour (64 km/h); and a 15-foot (4.6-meter) Zodiac inflatable boat with a 25-horsepower (18.6-kW) outboard motor. In addition to her crew of 34, Miller Freeman could accommodate up to 11 scientists. Crew: Chief Engineer - Stephen Bus Ret. 2013
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