NOAA Ship HENRY B. BIGELOW was launched at VT Halter Marine, in Pascagoula, Mississippi on July 8, 2005. HENRY B. BIGELOW is the second of four new fisheries survey ships to be built by NOAA. Christened HENRY B. BIGELOW by Catherine Silver of Winnacunnet High School in Hampton, N.H., on behalf of the ship's sponsor, Mrs. Judd Gregg, wife of the senior senator from New Hampshire, the ship is one of the most technologically advanced fisheries survey vessels in the world. Mrs. Gregg was unable to attend the ceremony at the shipyard in Moss Point, Miss., but designated Silver as her representative. Silver was the team leader of students from Winnacunnet High School who won a regional NOAA contest in 2004 to name the ship.

HENRY B. BIGELOW supports NOAA's mission to protect, restore and manage the use of living marine, coastal, and ocean resources through ecosystem-based management. Its primary objective is to study and monitor Northeast Marine Fisheries, throughout New England. The ship also observes weather, sea state, and other environmental conditions, conducts habitat assessments, and surveys marine mammal and marine bird populations.