The JOHN N. COBB is NOAA's oldest research ship. It was built in 1950 with a wooden hull, along the lines of Pacific trawler designs of that time. The COBB is named after John N. Cobb, an early fisheries researcher and the first dean of the University of Washington School of Fisheries.

The COBB conducts fishery and living marine resource research in Southeast Alaska and in U.S. Pacific coastal waters, supporting the research of the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Auke Bay Laboratory in Juneau, Alaska. The ship collects fish and crustacean specimens using trawls and benthic longlines, fish larvae and eggs, and plankton using plankton nets and surface and midwater larval nets. The COBB is capable of conducting bottom trawls down to depths of over 300 fathoms (1,800 ft.). Marine mammal surveys of whales, porpoise, and seals are also conducted aboard by scientists from the National Marine Mammal Laboratory in Seattle, Washington. The vessel is operated by NOAA's Office of Marine and Aviation Operations.. The COBB's home port is at the Marine Operations Center - Pacific (MOC-P), in Seattle, Washington.

JOHN N. COBB's E-mail address is:

NOAA.Ship.Cobb@noaa.gov

JOHN N. COBB's mail address is:

NOAA Ship JOHN N. COBB
Marine Operations Center, Pacific
1801 Fairview Ave E
Seattle, WA 98102-3767

JOHN N. COBB's Telephone Numbers