The John N. Cobb was 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 John N. Cobb was named after John N. Cobb, an early fisheries researcher and the first dean of the University of Washington School of Fisheries.

While active the John N. Cobb conducted 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 collected 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 John N. Cobb was capable of conducting bottom trawls down to depths of over 300 fathoms (1,800 ft.). Marine mammal surveys of whales, porpoise, and seals were also conducted aboard by scientists from the National Marine Mammal Laboratory in Seattle, Washington. The vessel was operated by NOAA's Office of Marine and Aviation Operations.. The John N. Cobb's home port was at the Marine Operations Center - Pacific (MOC-P), in Seattle, Washington.