Page 30: of Marine Technology Magazine (January 2026)

FEATURE RETIRING THE R/V ENDEAVOR

A map of R/V Endeavor’s historical ship tracks over the last 49 years.

Credit: Bonny Clarke

Endeavor also played a signi? cant role in times of need. “Some of the highlights are rapid response to things like the

Haiti earthquake and the BP oil spill,” said Gruebel. Primarily, however, she delivered as a general research vessel. “Ocean- ography is a body of research—it’s not just individual discov- eries. The amount that this single ship has contributed over the years is what makes me proud,” he added.

During the half-century Endeavor spent at URI, she saw many technological updates, including through the mid-life re? t. “If you look at different pictures, you can see that the lines of the ship have drastically changed. They added another deck in 1993, different systems, winches—to adapt to a lot of the new technologies that have come aboard and other re- search ships...We like to joke, there’s a good mix of museum pieces and new technology on board,” Thornton said. “Technology and scienti? c capability wise, if you stepped on Endeavor today, after 50 years of service, you would never know that it’s a 50-year-old ship. We worked very hard to keep it up to date. We’re constantly installing new equipment. In the On December 15, the tanker Argo Merchant ran last ? ve or six years, there’s been huge advances in satellite aground off Nantucket Island during a storm, car- communications and cybersecurity, and we’re a leader in that rying more than 7.7 million gallons of fuel oil and regard,” Gruebel added.

thrusting Endeavor into service. The vessel broke apart over the following week, unleashing one of the largest oil spills in U.S. history.

New era, new Dawn

As Endeavor heads into retirement, URI is planning for its new vessel, R/V Narragansett Dawn, which at time of writing 30 January/February 2026

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