NOAAS Whiting (S 329)

NOAAS Whiting (S 329), was an American survey ship that was in commission in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) from 1970 to 2003. Previously, she had been in commission in the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey from 1963 to 1970 as USC&GS Whiting (CSS 29).

In 2005 the ship was transferred to Mexico, and she was commissioned in the Mexican Navy as ARM Río Tuxpan (BI-12).

Construction and commissioning
Whiting was built at a cost of $2,300,000 (USD) as a "coastal survey ship" (CSS) for the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey by the Marietta Manufacturing Company at Point Pleasant, West Virginia. She was launched on 20 November 1962 and delivered in July 1963. The Coast and Geodetic Survey commissioned her on 8 July 1963 in a ceremony at New Orleans, Louisiana, as USC&GS Whiting (CSS 29), the first and only Coast and Geodetic Survey ship of the name. When the Coast and Geodetic Survey and other United States Government agencies merged to form NOAA on 3 October 1970, Whiting became a part of the NOAA fleet as NOAAS Whiting (S 329), thus far the only NOAA ship to bear the name.

Capabilities
Whiting had a two-drum bathythermograph winch with a maximum pull of 1,000 pounds (454 kg). The lower drum had 3/16-inch (4.75-mm) wire rope, while the upper drum had 13,123 feet (4,000 meters) of 1/4-inch (6.4-mm) wire rope. She had a 27-foot (8.2-meter) telescoping boom with a lifting capacity of 2,500 pounds (1,134 kg) and a 27-foot (8.2-meter) articulating boom with a lifting capacity of 2,768 pounds (1,256 kg), as well as a 16-foot A-frame with a maximum load of 6250 pounds (2,835 kg) and a working load of 5000 pounds (2,268 kg).

For acoustic hydrography and bathymetry, Whiting had 12-Khz deep-water echosounder, a 100-Khz shallow-water echosounder-lOOKhz, a 24- and 100-Khz hydrographic survey sounder, and the Intermediate Depth Swath Survey System (IDSSS), which is a 36-Khz sidescan sonar. In 1989 she underwent a major upgrade involving the installation of Hydrochart II, which employed a Microvax computer system to acquire and process hydorgraphic data. Hydrochart II gave her the capability to generate bottom contour charts with a swath width of approximately two-and-a-half times the water depth, ranging from 10 to 1000 meters (32.8 to 3,280 feet), in real time.

Whiting had an ice-strengthened steel hull.

Whiting carried two 29-foot (8.8-meter) aluminum-hulled diesel-powered Jensen survey launches. For utility and rescue purposes, she also carried two open boats with gasoline-powered outboard motors, a 16-foot (4.9-meter) Boston Whaler fiberglass-hulled boat and 17-foot (5.2-meter) Monark aluminum-hulled boat.

At the time of her decommissioning, Whiting was the most technologically advanced hydrographic survey platform in the world. She and her survey launches were outfitted with modern multibeam echosounders and sidescan sonars, allowing efficient and rapid hydrographic surveys. The data storage for survey data was close to 2 terabytes, and nine workstations allowed survey personnel to process the data with state-of-the-art software and create three-dimensional models of the ocean floor, side-scan mosaics, and imagery of historical wrecks.

Operational career
Whiting conducted hydrographic and bathymetric surveys involving nautical charting and ocean mapping, primarily along the United States East Coast and United States Gulf Coast and off territories of the United States in the Caribbean. She also imaged historical wrecks like that of the United States Navy monitor USS Monitor and was used for oceanography, fisheries research, and homeland security surveys. During her 39-year career, her operations took her from as far north as Duluth, Minnesota, to as far south as Honduras in Central America.

In July 1999, Whiting joined the NOAA survey ship NOAAS Rude (S 590) in searching for the wreckage of the Piper Saratoga II HP flown by John F. Kennedy, Jr., after it crashed off Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. In early November 1999, Whiting found the wreckage of Egyptair Flight 990, a Boeing 767-300ER which crashed in the Atlantic Ocean about 40 miles (65 kilometers) south of Nantucket Island, Massachusetts.

In July 2001, Whiting discovered the wreck of the United States Navy submarine USS S-5 (SS-110), which had sunk during a crash dive in 1920, in the Atlantic Ocean near Boston, Massachusetts.

Whiting made her final cruise in NOAA service in 2002, when she deployed to the United States Virgin Islands, the Gulf of Mexico, and the southeast coast of the United States in support of homeland security and nautical charting. She returned in November 2002, bringing an end to 39 years of service.

Finding the aging Whiting no longer economical to operate, NOAA decommissioned her on 2 May 2003. NOAA replaced her with the survey ship NOAAS Thomas Jefferson (S 222).

Mexican Navy service
After Whiting was decommissioned, the United States Congress authorized her transfer to Mexico with the stipulation that Mexico employ her in supporting the hydrographic activities of the United States-Mexico Cooperative Charting Advisory Committee so as to enhance cooperation between the United States and Mexico in surveying and charting the border waters of both countries in the Gulf of Mexico and in the Pacific Ocean. Accordingly, by the authority of the United States Secretary of Commerce, Whiting was transferred to Mexico in a ceremony at Norfolk, Virginia, on 28 April 2005. Mexico immediately commissioned her into service in the Mexican Navy as ARM Río Tuxpan (BI-12), Mexico's first dedicated hydrographic survey ship.