New Alaska-bound ocean mapping ship begins construction in Louisiana

This undated image, provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, shows a mockup of the Surveyor, an ocean-floor-mapping ship under construction and scheduled to be homeported in Ketchikan. (NOAA image)

Next week, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is planning to host a ceremony in Louisiana to mark the start of construction on the NOAA ship the Surveyor, a new charting and mapping ship scheduled to be homeported in Ketchikan.

NOAA announced the keel-laying ceremony, scheduled for Aug. 14, by email.

The Surveyor is expected to be finished in 2027, and its sister ship, the Navigator, is expected to be finished in 2028.

NOAA operates a fleet of 15 charting, mapping and fisheries ships using an unarmed officer corps like a scientific version of the U.S. military. The Surveyor and Navigator will be used primarily for ocean mapping and nautical charting.

Two other deep-sea ships, the Oceanographer and Discoverer, are also under construction and are expected to be complete in 2026. 

All four ships are part of an ongoing effort to keep the NOAA fleet afloat; as of 2023, the fleet’s average age was 30 years old, and six of the fleet’s current ships are expected to reach the end of their service life by 2030. 

The ships will be built by Thoma-Sea Marine Constructors in Houma, Louisiana, under a $624.6 million contract that would allow NOAA to construct two more ships if funding is available.

• James Brooks is a longtime Alaska reporter, having previously worked at the Anchorage Daily News, Juneau Empire, Kodiak Mirror and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Alaska Beacon is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.