Capabilities

Ka'imimoana has berthing for 33 people in 21 single staterooms and six double staterooms providing her with the capacity to carry up to 12 scientists. She can seat 24 people at a time in two crew's mess rooms, eight in the forward room and 16 in the aft room. She has a medical treatment room with one bunk, overseen by a United States Public Health Service Health Programs Officer.

Ka'imimoana has 950 sq ft (88 m²) of laboratory space. On deck, she has a brailing winch, a CTD winch, three cranes, an A-frame, and a J-frame. She carries two boats, a 22 ft (6.7 m) rigid-hulled inflatable boat (RHIB) as a rescue boat and a 17 ft (5.2 m) inflatable utility boat. She is equipped with echosounders, a hull-mounted acoustic release transducer, a navigation fathometer, X-band and S-band radar, Global Positioning System receivers, a VHF radio direction finder, and a Sperry gyrocompass.

Career

Ka'imimoana was home-ported at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and was the only NOAA ship dedicated solely to climate research. She supported NOAA's Tropical Atmosphere Ocean project, which is designed to improve understanding of the role of the tropical ocean in modifying the world's climate.

Ka'imimoana deployed, recovered, and serviced the National Data Buoy Center's deep-sea moorings—which measure ocean currents, ocean temperatures, and atmospheric variables—in the equatorial Pacific Ocean and transmitted buoy measurements in real time to NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle, Washington. She also continuously measured upper ocean currents, surface salinity, carbon dioxide content, and sea-level atmospheric conditions while underway.

Ka'imimoana was retired by NOAA on June 18, 2014. .^[1]

Ka'imimoana was purchased by Pacific Survey Group in 2015 and renamed the Ocean Titan. Upon acquisition of the Ka Imimoana from NOAA, Pacific Survey Group conducted an extensive mid-life upgrade in 2016/2017. All vessel systems were renewed and upgraded to modern technology. State of the art navigation and position control systems were added to make the vessel DP2. As part of this upgrade 4 new Caterpillar EPA approved generator packages were installed, three additional tunnel thrusters, all new electric drives and controls, power management, switchboard control automation, and alarm and monitoring systems. All critical systems were made fully redundant making the vessel ABS and USCG approved DP2. Additionally, the vessel’s interior was completely redone to give a more comfortable feel for clients and crew as well as increased birthing for clients.

These modifications make the Ocean Titan one of the only fully redundant DP2 Research Vessel’s in private operation in the US. Additionally, her upgrades make her not only versatile but incredibly efficient and acoustically quiet due to extensive sound dampening and vibration reductions. The improvements also increased the vessel's speed, range, and endurance.

Notes

Bibliography

• Wertheim, Eric, ed. The Naval Institute Guide to Combat Fleets of the World, 15th Edition: Their Ships, Aircraft, and Systems. Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute Press, 2007. ISBN 978-1-59114-955-2. ISSN 1057-4581.