, in commission with the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries from 1926 to 1932.
United States Coast Guard service
The
patrol vessels were badly needed to deal with threats from Germansubmarines, and she was transferred to the U.S. Coast Guard that year for conversion to a patrol vessel. The United States Navy, which oversaw her conversion for the Coast Guard, made radical changes to the ship, lengthening her to 179 feet (55 meters) overall, removing her trawling equipment, and installing armament and other military equipment.[1][2]
By the time the ship was
decommissioned her. The Coast Guard transferred her back to the Fish and Wildlife Service that year.[1][2]
United States Fish and Wildlife Service career
Returning to the name Albatross III, the ship underwent another lengthy process of conversion to transform her from a patrol vessel into a fisheries research ship as previously intended. After this finally was completed, she was commissioned into service with the Fish and Wildlife Service as US FWS Albatross III on 19 March 1948 at the
freezers, one of which could freeze fish quickly and maintain a temperature of minus 20 degrees F (minus 28.9 degrees C
), while the other held temperatures at about 32 degrees F (0 degrees C).
Albatross III had two laboratories on her
wet laboratory, opened onto both the port and starboard decks through Dutch doors, had in its center a stainless steel sink suitable for handling and examining fish, and had two small sinks in cabinets on its outside bulkheads for chemical and hydrographic work. Her other laboratory, a dry laboratory, was aft of the wet laboratory and doubled as a library; it had a large work table, chairs, a bench, and shelves, and early in her career served as an office for scientists conducting the preliminary study of data collected at sea, although it later was filled with electronic equipment related to underwater television research.[2]
The ship had hydrographic booms and winches on her bridge deck on both her port and starboard sides. The booms had
mechanical travelers to which lowering blocks were attached which regulated the distance of the lowering wire from the rail.[2]
Albatross III had accommodations for 35 personnel. Her standard complement was 21 (later reduced to 18) crew members and six scientists, and she had living quarters for an additional eight personnel, either additional crew members or additional scientists, as required on a particular voyage.[2]