The end of an era

Today, marks NOAA’s decommissioning two of their workhorses. The McArthur II and Ka’imimoana.

I had the great fortune to work on the Mac II for a year and with a dysfunctional, but hard working crew that always got the work done right.

Both were great ships for NOAA and for the Navy before that. I hate to see them go, they were very comfortable ships and a nice platform to work on.

[QUOTE=sailorman1981;139476]Today, marks NOAA’s decommissioning two of their workhorses. The McArthur II and Ka’imimoana.

I had the great fortune to work on the Mac II for a year and with a dysfunctional, but hard working crew that always got the work done right.

Both were great ships for NOAA and for the Navy before that. I hate to see them go, they were very comfortable ships and a nice platform to work on.[/QUOTE]

Whatever will NOAA do now with their surplus Corps officers? Give them to the Navee perhaps?

anyway looking forward to bidding on these two vessels someday when the GSA auctions them off. What I will do with them is a mystery…maybe I can charter them to KP as training ships?

.

[QUOTE=c.captain;139477]Whatever will NOAA do now with their surplus Corps officers? Give them to the Navee perhaps?

anyway looking forward to bidding on these two vessels someday when the GSA auctions them off. What I will do with them is a mystery…maybe I can charter them to KP as training ships?

.[/QUOTE]

Well, we knew this was going to happen eventually. Seeing them sit around in Newport was pretty depressing. I like the T-AGOs boats. I just got off one in May. Comfortable to live on. The engine rooms could be improved (duplex sea strainers would be nice, and can we find a way to bypass the one and only duplex fuel strainer?) but now what are the replacements going to be? If anything? These boats are work horses.

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[QUOTE=c.captain;139477]Whatever will NOAA do now with their surplus Corps officers? Give them to the Navee perhaps?

.[/QUOTE]

Send them to Iraq. It’s their turn in the sandbox.

C.Captain, they have too many officers and not enough ships, then when it’s time to leave a cushy three year land assignment they find a way to stay on land. Two years at sea is rough on a part time sailor.

I hope you buy both and charter them right back to noaa, like what Stabbard (sp) did with the David Starr Jordan.

I miss the guys, I don’t miss the bullshit.

They’ll sit in Newport for four more years before they sell them.

[QUOTE=sailorman1981;139484]C.Captain, they have too many officers and not enough ships, then when it’s time to leave a cushy three year land assignment they find a way to stay on land. Two years at sea is rough on a part time sailor.

I hope you buy both and charter them right back to noaa, like what Stabbard (sp) did with the David Starr Jordan.

I miss the guys, I don’t miss the bullshit.[/QUOTE]

I’m with you. Turn over most of the survey and fisheries work to motivated private enterprise. I have been here a year plus. I like the people too; it’s the bullshit I can do without. Especially after the way I was treated this spring. I’m still shaking my head over that.

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[QUOTE=sailorman1981;139485]They’ll sit in Newport for four more years before they sell them.[/QUOTE]

Probably, especially given that the other ships raped them thoroughly for parts. I’m amazed that the Freeman sold with a frozen shaft.

[QUOTE=c.captain;139477]Whatever will NOAA do now with their surplus Corps officers? Give them to the Navee perhaps?

anyway looking forward to bidding on these two vessels someday when the GSA auctions them off. What I will do with them is a mystery…maybe I can charter them to KP as training ships?

.[/QUOTE]

CC,

I’m sure you can bid on them by calling 1-800-GET-FUKD.

Don’t tempt me…

[QUOTE=sailorman1981;139485]They’ll sit in Newport for four more years before they sell them.[/QUOTE]

Why in the HELL are they both in Newport?

I think the Corps decided that at one of their famous Brown Bag meetings. Do they still have those? I heard they replaced the NOAA Corps song, “Forward with NOAA” with “Everything is Awesome” from the Lego Movie. I think it suits them.

I love how the Corps say “everything is great and wonderful!” Or how we would be a couple weeks for a fix and it turned into almost three months.

Did I mention the licensed engineer shortage noaa is having-delayed sailing and canceled trips because of it.

But the Mac and KA are still good workhorses.

Well C. Captain. NOAA thought it would be cool to move MOC-P to Newport, OR. So that’s where old noaa ships go to sit now. Take the old good ones offline to pay for the new ones that can’t seem to do anything right.

DOH! I was thinking Rhode Island

my stoopid

It’s okay C. Captain.

Newport, RI is way better than Newport, OR anyways.

[QUOTE=catherder;139486]…Especially after the way I was treated this spring. I’m still shaking my head over that.[/QUOTE]

Last Fall (furloughs) probably wasn’t a lot of fun either…

I heard rumors NOAA still doesn’t have enough guys to sail some ships. I hear 3-5 boats are tied up do to lack of engineers and deckhands.

Has anyone heard the same or seen it firsthand? True? False?

[QUOTE=c.captain;139545]DOH! I was thinking Rhode Island

my stoopid[/QUOTE]

We base a ship there, too…we use the CG pier

http://www.federalnewsradio.com/440/3663624/NOAAs-aging-fleet-unprepared-to-face-hurricane-season

At least the Brown shoes can get a job in the real world. NOAA Corps…get your licenses while you can. This party can’t last forever.

“Without a comprehensive and integrated capital asset plan, NOAA risks not having sufficient analysis or justification to make sound critical decisions,” the report said.

That sums noaa up pretty well. Just look at the five FSV’s they built, they make pretty good sails with all that house they carry.

[QUOTE=sailorman1981;141154]“Without a comprehensive and integrated capital asset plan, NOAA risks not having sufficient analysis or justification to make sound critical decisions,” the report said.

That sums noaa up pretty well. Just look at the five FSV’s they built, they make pretty good sails with all that house they carry.[/QUOTE]

There literally is not a single government service that can competently have a ship built for themselves anymore. Not the Washington State Ferries, not NOAA, not the USCG and certainly not the Navy. Every one of them ends up paying far too much for flawed designs and even worse workmanship and yet high quality commercial vessels of all types are being built by the score now days in the USA. Once we had true naval shipyards on all coasts which could build a battleship but today all our naval shipyards do is decommission them and send them to be scrapped.

How in the name of God did this happen and is there any hope that it every can be corrected? I certainly do not see it happening in the remainder of my lifetime!

[QUOTE=c.captain;141163]There literally is not a single government service that can competently have a ship built for themselves anymore. Not the Washington State Ferries, not NOAA, not the USCG and certainly not the Navy. Every one of them ends up paying far too much for flawed designs and even worse workmanship and yet high quality commercial vessels of all types are being built by the score now days in the USA. Once we had true naval shipyards on all coasts which could build a battleship but today all our naval shipyards do is decommission them and send them to be scrapped.

How in the name of God did this happen and is there any hope that it every can be corrected? I certainly do not see it happening in the remainder of my lifetime![/QUOTE]

I wish I knew the answer to that. The problem with this organization seems to be that non-mariners are in charge and pay all the damned bills so they cut costs on the backs of the low level workers and on the equipment they procure. There’s also no real mechanism for correcting mistakes or punishing people who spend recklessly.

By the way, just so ya know, they painted over the logo, numbers and the stack stripes on the McArthur II and Ka’imimoana last week and it won’t be all that long before you’ll see them on the GSA website. Hint: M2 is in much better shape, if you are interested.