NOAAS Mount Mitchell (S 222) was an American survey vessel in commission in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration from 1970 to 1995. Prior to her NOAA career, she was in commission in the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey as USC&GS Mount Mitchell (MSS 22) from 1968 to 1970. In 2003, she returned to service as the private research ship R/V Mt. Mitchell. Construction and commissioning Mount Mitchell was built for the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey as a "medium survey ship" (MSS) at the Aerojet-General Shipyards in Jacksonville, Florida. Launched on 29 November 1966, she was commissioned into the Coast and Geodetic Survey in March 1968 as USC&GS Mount Mitchell (MSS 22). When the Survey merged with other organizations to form NOAA in 1970, she became part of the NOAA fleet as NOAAS Mount Mitchell (S 222). She is the sister ship of and , which are both still in service with NOAA. USC&GS and NOAAS Mount Mitchell, 1968–1995 Mount Mitchell operated as a multipurpose vessel. She had an oceanographic laboratory, several echosounders, and an oceanographic winch. She also had a hydroplot data-processing system, as did two of her survey launches. Mount Mitchell conducted hydrographic surveys on the United States East Coast and in the Caribbean, and served as an oceanographic vessel throughout much of the North Atlantic Ocean on various projects. In the late 1980s she was fitted with a multi-beam sounding system for hydrographic work related to establishing the maritime exclusive economic zone of the United States and discovered Mitchell Dome among other large, economically significant undersea features in the Gulf of Mexico. In 1992 she proceeded to the Persian Gulf to study the effects of the 1990–1991 Persian Gulf War oil spills into the Gulf. After returning to the United States, she resumed operations as a hydrographic survey vessel until decommissioning in 1995. Awards Department of Commerce Silver Medal In a ceremony on 9 November 1992 in Washington, D.C., Mount Mitchell was awarded the Department of Commerce Silver Medal for her 1990–1991 Persian Gulf cruise. The program for the ceremony cited her achievements as follows: NOAA Ship Mt. Mitchell, Atlantic Marine Center, completed a historic cruise surveying environmental damage in the Persian Gulf caused by oil spills. The cruise is the first major oceanographic survey of the Persian Gulf since 1977 and is the most comprehensive ever in terms of geographic and subject area coverage.