NEWPORT – State and local leaders gathered at Naval Station Newport Monday to break ground on the National Oceanographic and Atmosphere Administration's $146.8 million Marine Operations Center that officials say will bring vessels, operations and research jobs to Rhode Island.
U.S. Senator Jack Reed, D.R.I. was joined by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo; Rick Spinrad, head of NOAA; NOAA Corps Rear Admiral Nancy Hann, director of NOAA Marine and Aviation Operations and the NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps; Gov. Daniel J. McKee; U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse and U.S. Rep. Gabe Amo and others fo the ceremony on the 5-acre site.
The new Marine Operations Center-Atlantic is expected to be completed by 2027, when operations will be moved from Norfolk, Va.
The facility in Newport will feature a pier that will accommodate four large vessels, a floating dock for smaller vessels, space for vessel repairs and parking and a warehouse.
The center and Atlantic fleet ships will be a component of NOAA Marine and Aviation Operations, which include managing commercial fisheries, protecting marine mammals, coral reefs and historic shipwrecks, and producing nautical charts for mariner safety. NOAA ships also maintain buoys that gather oceanographic and weather data.
“I was pleased to help Rhode Island land NOAA’s regional headquarters for Atlantic operations," Reed said. "This will be a first-class facility. It will be a major asset for NOAA that will help further their important mission and make them more efficient, achieving cost savings for taxpayers while bringing jobs to Rhode Island."
In December, the Navy, on behalf of NOAA, awarded the construction contract to New York-based Skanska USA Inc. Rhode Island’s congressional delegation released statements then praising the development, which is expected to bring
approximately 200 jobs to the state.
“The construction of this center is another example of an investment that will put Rhode Islanders to work at good paying jobs that pay dividends for generations to come,” McKee said.
The MOC-A coordinates NOAA’s ships operating in the Atlantic Ocean and Great Lakes and serves as a homeport for some of NOAA’s flagship research vessels.
Currently, NOAA has two ships based at Naval Station Newport’s Pier 2 on Narragansett Bay: the 209-foot Henry B. Bigelow
, which is a fisheries research vessel, and the 224-foot Okeanos Explorer, known as “America’s ship for ocean exploration,” which is dedicated to oceanographic research and conducts operations around the globe, including mapping the seafloor.
A third NOAA ship is slated to be based at the Newport naval station: Thomas Jefferson
is a 208-foot long deep-water hydrographic survey ship that uses sonar to map the bottom of the seafloor and provides data that informs the management of fisheries, navigation safety, ice models, hydrodynamic models and geological work.
Additionally, a fourth NOAA vessel that will be based in Newport is now under construction. The 244-foot Discoverer
, which will be a state-of-the-art oceanographic research vessel, is currently being built in Louisiana. The ship is scheduled to join the fleet in 2026.
Overall, NOAA’s fleet currently includes 15 oceanographic research vessels, fisheries survey vessels and hydrographic survey vessels.
