GSO boasts a proud seagoing-tradition with more than sixty years experience operating world-ranging and world-class research vessels.
GSO acquired its first ship in 1962. R/V Trident, a 180-foot, converted 1945-era U.S. Army coastal freighter (FS-206), operated successfully until 1976 when she was replaced by R/V Endeavor, one of three intermediate class National Science Foundation-owned ships designed from the keel up as oceanographic research vessels.
Since then, Endeavor has carried thousands of scientists, engineers, technicians, students, and teachers on more than 650 cruises and traversed more than one million nautical miles in support of science. Endeavor has operated throughout the Atlantic Ocean, ranging as far north as Svalbard Archipelago (82˚N) and south to Tristan de Cunha (38˚S), from the western North Atlantic to eastern reaches of the North Atlantic and into the Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea, and from Brazil to Africa in the South Atlantic. Endeavor has also operated in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico and traveled into the Pacific Ocean through the Panama Canal as far as Easter Island and Hawaii.
In 1993, GSO led mid-life design for all three sister vessels, a refit lengthening R/V Endeavor from 177 to its current overall length of 185 feet. Endeavor carries a crew of 12 and accommodates up to 16 scientists and technicians.
GSO is one of 61 members of the University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS), an organization of academic institutions and national laboratories involved in oceanographic research for the purpose of coordinating oceanographic ship schedules and research facilities. UNOLS, with Its national office located at GSO, also actively promotes the goal of “greening the fleet” and is exploring the technologies and practices best suited to move forward in developing and maintaining more efficient research vessels. GSO has taken this goal to heart, and Endeavor was the first in the nation’s academic fleet to convert its propulsion, electrical generation, and heating systems to burn 5% cleaner renewable biodiesel. It also utilizes 100% bio hydraulic fluids. Endeavor’s multiple efforts led the way for “greening of the fleet” with upgrades to more efficient lighting, galley appliances, water heaters, water makers, and other equipment further enhancing transformation of Endeavor into one of the most Earth-friendly academic research vessels in the nation.