NOAAS George B. Kelez

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NOAAS George B. Kelez (R 441) dressed overall.
History
United States Army
NameFS-400
BuilderIngalls Shipbuilding, Decatur, Alabama
Launched1944
FateTransferred to United States Navy 1 July 1950
Notes
United States Army Transport in U.S. Army Transportation Corps
service
United States Navy
NameUSNS AKL-30
Acquired1 July 1950
Stricken1961
IdentificationT-AKL-30
FateTransferred to United States Fish and Wildlife Service 1962
NotesIn non-commissioned service in U.S. Navy
Military Sea Transportation Service
United States Fish and Wildlife Service
NameUS FWS George B. Kelez
NamesakeGeorge Bothwell Kelez (1908–1954), pioneering fisheries scientist in Alaska
AcquiredTransferred from United States Navy early 1962
Commissioned20 July 1962
FateTransferred to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 3 October 1970
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
NameNOAAS George B. Kelez
NamesakePrevious name retained
AcquiredTransferred from United States Fish and Wildlife Service 3 October 1970
Decommissionedlate 1972
IdentificationCRS 41
RecommissionedMarch 1973
DecommissionedJanuary 1980
ReclassifiedFrom "coastal
research ship
" (CRS 41) to "research ship" (R 441)
Identification
FateSold 1982
StatusExtant in commercial service 2016
NotesReported to
NOAA fleet
in 1972
General characteristics
Type
research ship
Tonnage
Length177.5 ft (54.1 m)
Beam32 ft (9.8 m)
Draft10 ft (3.0 m)
Propulsion
kW
)
Speed10.5 knots (19 km/h) (average)
Range7,300 nautical miles (13,500 km)

NOAAS George B. Kelez (R 441), previously NOAAS George B. Kelez (CRS 41), was an American research vessel in commission in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) fleet from 1972 to 1980. Prior to her NOAA career, she operated under the United States Fish and Wildlife Service′s Bureau of Commercial Fisheries from 1962 to 1970 as US FWS George B. Kelez and the National Marine Fisheries Service from 1970 to 1972 as NOAAS George B. Kelez (CRS 41).

Before becoming a research vessel, the ship was the

Military Sea Transportation Service
as USNS AKL-30 (T-AKL-30) from 1950 to 1961.

Construction

The ship was built as a U.S. Army freight and supply vessel, Design 381 (officially Vessel, Supply, Diesel, Steel, 177') also called coastal cargo ships. The type was built by several shipbuilders during World War II with FS-400 being the last of a series of the design built by Ingalls Shipbuilding, Decatur, Alabama, in 1944.[1][2][3][note 1] NOAA history, primarily concerned with the NOAA operation of the vessel, has design by Sturgeon Bay Shipbuilding and Drydock Company of Wisconsin with Nickum & Sons Consultants of Seattle, Washington but the designs were of U.S. Army origin according to other references.[4][note 2]

Service history

U.S. Army and U.S. Navy

FS-400, was placed in service with the

Noumea, Guadalcanal, and, after the end of the war, Wake Island.[5]

On 1 July 1950, she was transferred from the U.S. Army Transportation Corps to the

Naval Register in 1961 and declared excess property at Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Mare Island, California, during the summer of 1961.[4][3]

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

US FWS George B. Kelez underway in 1963
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service logo on stack of US FWS George B. Kelez in 1963
LEFT: US FWS George B. Kelez underway in 1963 while with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service′s Bureau of Commercial Fisheries. RIGHT: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service logo on US FWS George B. Kelez′s stack in 1963.

In late 1961, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), an agency of the United States Department of the Interior, inspected AKL-30. The USFWS acquired her in 1962 for use as a fisheries research vessel, and in February 1962 towed her from Mare Island to Seattle, Washington, where she underwent conversion into a fisheries research ship over the next four and a half months at a cost of approximately US$100,000. Her USFWS crew did most of the conversion work, purchasing and installing new equipment such as fishing equipment, oceanographic equipment, and specialized electrical and refrigeration systems and modifying the captain's and crew's quarters.[4]

When her conversion was complete, the ship – now named US FWS George B. Kelez – was

Grumman Goose amphibious aircraft in Alaska on 1 September 1954,[6]
and the ship carried a plaque – read aloud at the ceremony – that read:

United States Bureau of Commercial Fisheries Motor Ship George B. Kelez

To inspire those who man her and those who follow her course in the great international seas, this research ship is hereby dedicated to the honor of George B. Kelez, Fishery Research

our Lord
protect and guide you.

Signed by Samuel J. Hutchinson, Regional Director, 20 July 1962.[4]

Assigned to the USFWS's Bureau of Commercial Fisheries (BCF), George B. Kelez gave the BCF a new capability to conduct oceanographic and open-ocean salmon studies during the winter;[4] previously, the BCF had relied on chartered vessels for such studies, but they were too small for safe winter operations in the open ocean and were limited to spring and summer operations.[4] George B. Kelez also provided the BCF with adequate on-board laboratory space and storage space for gear and spare parts for the first time.[4]

George B. Kelez's first cruise for the BCF – a six-week

drift bottles in the subarctic Pacific Ocean and oceanographic data-gathering buoys equipped with radio transmitters released in the Pacific Ocean 300 nautical miles (560 km; 350 mi) off the coast of Washington.[4] In early 1966, she took part in the first winter oceanographic measurement of the Alaskan Stream – a current related closely to the formation of the salmon fishing ground – in the western subarctic region of the North Pacific.[4]

NOAA

On 3 October 1970, a major reorganization occurred which formed the

NOAA fleet, operated by the National Ocean Survey's Office of Fleet Operations.[8] George B. Kelez officially became part of the new NOAA fleet in 1972.[4] As a NOAA ship, she at first was redesignated NOAAS George B. Kelez (CRS 41), later becoming NOAAS George B. Kelez (R 441).[4]

Starboard quarter view of NOAAS George B. Kelez

Meanwhile, George B. Kelez continued her operations. In the summer of 1971, she conducted a cruise in the North Pacific to collect salmon and

Pacific salmon.[4]

NOAA had limited funding during its first three years of existence between 1970 and 1972, forcing it to reduce ship operations and oceanographic studies.

decommission George B. Kelez near the end of 1972, and she never returned to fisheries research work.[4] However, in March 1973 NOAA recommissioned her and loaned her to the United States Geological Survey for use in Southern California.[4] In late 1974, NOAA moved her to a new home port, NOAA's Atlantic Marine Center at Norfolk, Virginia, and on 6 December 1974 opened bids for repair work to the ship.[4]

With her repairs completed, George B. Kelez returned to service, focusing on oceanographic research. She spent the years from 1976 to 1980 primarily operating in connection with the

North Atlantic Ocean off Bermuda.[4] NOAA decommissioned her by the end of January 1980[3]
and eventually put her up for sale.

Later career

In April 1982 the Seafarers Harry Lundeberg School of Seamanship of

Omega Protein Corporation of Reedville, Virginia, acquired her, registered her in the United States, renovated her for use as a menhaden fishing vessel, and renamed her MV Smuggler's Point.[4][3]
As of 2016, Smuggler's Point remained in commercial service.

Footnotes

  1. ^ Design 381 included FS-253 through FS-554 with a number cancelled late in the war. Ingalls built FS-383 — FS-386 and FS-394 — FS-400 with 401—403 cancelled. The majority of the type, FS-253 — FS-292, were built by Wheeler Shipbuilding, Whitestone, N.Y. with nine other builders also building the type.
  2. ^ The NOAA history reference, which also has the Navy designation confused with the original Army designation, is contradicted by other sources regarding the Army design vessels.

See also

  • NOAA ships and aircraft

References

  1. LCCN 87015514
    .
  2. ^ Colton, Tim (November 28, 2012). "U.S. Army Coastal Freighters (F, FS) Built During WWII". ShipbuildingHistory. Retrieved 15 September 2020.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l navsource.org NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive NOAA R/V George B. Kelez ex USNS T-AKL-30 (1950 - 1961) USAT FS-400 (1944 - 1950)
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai noaa.gov AFSC Historical Corner: George B. Kelez, Oceanographic High-seas Vessel Retrieved August 26, 2018
  5. ^ "World War II Coast Guard - Manned U.S. Army Freight and Supply Ship Histories" (PDF). U.S. Coast Guard. Retrieved 15 September 2020.
  6. ISBN 1-56311-511-5
    . pp. 53-55, Retrieved August 27, 2018
  7. ^ Guinan, John A., and Ralph E. Curtis, "A Century Of Conservation," noaa.gov, April 1971 Retrieved August 22, 2018
  8. ^ noaa.gov AFSC Historical Corner - Timeline of Significant Events Retrieved August 23, 2018
  9. ^ vliz.be Flanders Marine Institute: Bongo net
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