The NOAAS Whiting (S 329) was a highly advanced American hydrographic survey vessel, built at a cost of approximately $2.3 million by Marietta Manufacturing Company in Point Pleasant, West Virginia. Launched on 20 November 1962 and commissioned in July 1963 as USC&GS Whiting (CSS 29), she was the first and only vessel to bear that name in the Coast and Geodetic Survey. When the agency merged into NOAA in 1970, she became NOAAS Whiting, serving until her decommissioning in 2003. Constructed with an ice-strengthened steel hull, Whiting was equipped with a sophisticated suite of hydrographic and bathymetric survey systems. She featured a two-drum bathythermograph winch capable of pulling 1,000 pounds, with the upper drum containing over 13,000 feet of 1/4-inch wire rope, and a telescoping boom with a lifting capacity of 2,500 pounds. Her survey equipment included a 12-kHz deep-water echosounder, a 100-kHz shallow-water echosounder, and a 36-kHz sidescan sonar (IDSSS), along with a Hydrochart II system installed during a 1989 upgrade, which allowed real-time bottom contour mapping over depths from 10 to 1,000 meters with a swath width of 2.5 times the water depth. Whiting also carried two 29-foot aluminum survey launches, along with auxiliary boats for utility and rescue. Her technological capabilities made her the most advanced hydrographic survey platform at the time of her decommissioning. Her operations spanned the U.S. East and Gulf Coasts, Caribbean territories, and even remote areas such as the wreck of the USS Monitor, and she participated in notable search and rescue missions, including the search for John F. Kennedy Jr.'s aircraft in 1999 and the wreckage of Egyptair Flight 990. After a distinguished 39-year career, Whiting was decommissioned in 2003 and transferred to Mexico in 2005, where she was commissioned as ARM Río Tuxpan, later renamed ARM Amealco in 2023. Her service significantly contributed to hydrographic surveying, ocean mapping, and maritime safety efforts over four decades.

This description has been generated using GPT-4.1-NANO based on the Vessel's wikidata information and then modified by ShipIndex.org staff.