After Working to Bring NOAA Hub to RI, Reed Tours Nearly Completed MOC-A Complex at NAVSTA Newport

NEWPORT, RI – An exciting new chapter in the Ocean State’s Blue Economy, marine research, and ocean exploration and discovery is set to begin with the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) preparing to open its Marine Operations Center – Atlantic (MOC-A) at Naval Station (NAVSTA) Newport. With nearly all infrastructure and superstructure work almost complete, U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI), who led the successful effort to bring MOC-A from Norfolk, Virginia to Rhode Island, today toured the $147 million new waterfront facilities situated on a 5 acre site at NAVSTA Newport. It is scheduled to become fully operational by the end of January 2027. 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. The federally-run operations center provides critical administrative, maintenance, engineering, and logistical support for NOAA training, missions, and ship operations. Senator Reed, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, worked for more than a decade to help efficiently consolidate federal resources for ocean exploration and marine research in Rhode Island , and continues to lead efforts to modernize infrastructure at NAVSTA Newport, a secure facility used by both the U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard, and in close proximity to the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography. NOAA’s new $147 million hub will help support jobs on land and at sea. While many NOAA workers will serve aboard research vessels for long stretches as they conduct oceanographic research missions, there will also be dozens of shoreside NOAA employees based at the new facility responsible for monitoring and supporting the research fleet at sea. Jobs at the new facility will include marine engineers, electrical technicians, budget specialists, and medical support staff and human resources administrators. Approximately 60 NOAA staffers worked at the NOAA MOC-A office in Norfolk, while many more also worked aboard vessels and were based in the area when not at sea. “NOAA’s arrival didn’t just happen. It took years of effort in the Senate and with Administrations of both parties to demonstrate that Rhode Island was the best choice. NAVSTA Newport is an ideal location for MOC-A and the new workers who will soon call this area home. This is a first-class facility. You often hear people talk about the ‘blue economy’; well this is the blue economy in action, not just words. 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,” said Senator Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, who successfully worked to ensure Rhode Island was best-positioned to be the homeport for the MOC-A and several of its major NOAA research vessels. Once it is fully completed, the facility will include a new NOAA pier that will accommodate four large vessels, a floating dock for smaller vessels, space for vessel repairs, and parking, and a warehouse. Separately, work is also now underway on a new, nearby $271,226,000 Pier 1 at NAVSTA Newport that will become home to several major U.S. Coast Guard Cutters . When it is completed, the new pier will offer the potential to house additional large vessels in an accessible, strategic, and cost-effective location. “NOAA is the premier U.S. scientific weather and oceans agency and I was pleased to bring MOC-A to Rhode Island. Naval Station Newport’s location and the years of strategic federal investments we’ve made here are really paying off. Bringing some of NOAA’s cutting-edge research fleet and the MOC-A to the Ocean State means more jobs for Rhode Island, a brighter future for our Blue Economy, and increased collaboration with URI and other nearby institutions,” said Senator Reed. Currently, NOAA has two ships homeported at Naval Station Newport’s Pier 2 on Narragansett Bay: the 208-foot fisheries research vessel NOAA Ship Henry B. Bigelow and the 224-foot NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer , known as “America’s ship for ocean exploration,” dedicated to oceanographic research around the globe, including mapping the seafloor. A third NOAA ship is slated to homeport at NAVSTA Newport: NOAA Ship 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 homeported 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. Overall, NOAA’s fleet currently includes fifteen vessels that conduct vital oceanographic, fisheries, hydrographic, and coastal research to support our nation's ocean ecosystems, coastal economies, public safety, and national security. The ships in NOAA’s fleet are operated, managed, and maintained by NOAA’s Office of Marine and Aviation Operations (OMAO). They collect data essential to protecting marine mammals and ocean ecosystems, managing commercial fisheries, understanding climate change and producing nautical charts that help keep mariners safe. NOAA ships also deploy and help maintain buoys that gather oceanographic and weather information and warn of tsunamis. NOAA ships are operated by NOAA Corps officers and civilian professional mariners. Today’s tour was led by RADM Chad Cary, Director, NOAA Corps and Assistant Administrator, OMAO and CAPT Chad Meckley, Commanding Officer, NOAA MOC-A.