History of Research Ships - Between The World Wars

Between The World Wars

After the war, Shackleton was one of the first to reengage in polar exploration. For a new Arctic expedition, he bought the Foca I which was designed in Norway and specified for polar areas. Organizational difficulties were encountered and Shackleton needed to change his plans and set course for the Southern Ocean. He did not complete the journey but died on the Quest at the beginning of his trip. His longtime comrade-in-arms Frank Wild assumed the leadership and advanced as far as the South Sandwich Islands until pack ice induced him to turn around and make for home. Later, the ship resumed its original role as a sealer. In 1930 to 1931 H. G. Watkins deployed the Quest for the British Air Route expedition, surveyed the eastern coast of Greenland in search of a site for an air base. The winner of the race, Roald Amundsen, made his way to the Arctic Ocean, his actual field of interest. In the following years between 1918 and 1922, he attempted to repeat Nansen's enterprise without success.

After the First World War interrupted oceanographic research, international scientific activities started anew in 1920. The invention of the echo sounder in 1912 reached a new significance for the international marine research. Henceforth, it was possible to measure the distance to the seabed by sending acoustic signals instead of using wires and weights. Warships used echo sounders during the First World War. In 1922, the American destroyer Stewart took the first echo profile over the North Atlantic and one year later, the sonic logging between San Francisco and San Diego was published. Between 1929 and 1934 the USS Ramapo took about thirty profiles of the northern Pacific Ocean. In 1927, the German cruiser Emden was able to carry out a series of soundings of the ocean trench to the east of the Philippines.

The German ship Meteor was the first to use the echo sounder for scientific purposes in the 1920s on the German Meteor expedition. For the first time an ocean, the Atlantic, was systematically mapped. The Meteor crossed the South Atlantic from the ice line to 20° N on fourteen mapping ways. With 67,000 echo soundings, cartographers were able to produce a modern depth chart. Other geomagnetic and oceanographic mapping expeditions followed e.g. the American research ship Carnegie in the Pacific Ocean from 1928 to 1929, the detailed reconnaissance in Indonesia by the Dutch Willebrord Snellius, the exploration of the waters around the Antarctic by the British William Scoresby and Discovery II and the expedition of the American schooner Atlantis that sailed from the West Atlantic to the Gulf of Mexico between 1932 and 1938. Also the Scandinavian countries continued their activities at the end of the 1920s. Danish scientists devoted themselves to research in marine biology. The oceanographic Dana Expedition, led by Johannes Schmidt and financed by the Carlsberg Foundation, was the most important Danish marine expedition. The treasured fish and plankton species belonged to the greatest collection of that time. The deceased John Murray had made a will stating that his invested inheritance would be used for an expedition as soon as enough capital would be accumulated. In 1931 was this the case and John Challenger Murray set work on realizing his father's wish. Since the envisaged research ships William Scoresby, Dana and George Bligh were inapplicable or unavailable respectively, the offer of the Egyptian government to take the "Mabahiss" was accepted. The Mabahiss left Alexandria on September 3, 1933 and returned on Mai 25, 1934. During this period she covered the Red Sea, Bay of Biscay, Indian Ocean, and the Gulf of Oman—more than 22,000 nautical miles (41,000 km) whereas chemical, physical and biological assays were taken. The scientific leadership ran Seymour Sewell. In total, three British and two Egyptian scientists participated in this journey.

In 1923, Japan sent the Manchiu Maru in the Indian and Pacific Ocean and since 1927 the ships Shunpo Maru and Soyo Maru were on their way. From 1930 on the Shintoku Maru made annual trips into the Pacific Ocean for assays of the seawater.

Eight years later, a new phase of the marine research began. As so far, the marine research continued but from now, different countries worked together on one expedition. The German Altair and the Norwegian Armauer Hansen performed a common measurement program within the scope of the international Gulf Stream expedition that shed light on the fluctuation of the Gulf Stream. For this international experiment the German Meteor, the Danish Dana and the French air-base vessel Carimare delivered data. In the same year, unconventional ships began with marine research.

Two flying boats, the Boreas and the Passat, equipped with aerial photography equipment were on board the ship Schwabenland. The application of this technology over Antarctica was revolutionary. Stereo photography was used. On the way back to Europe, the aircraft carrier conducted oceanographic, biological and meteorological observations and every fifteen to thirty minutes echo soundings were taken.

The oceanographic researches during World War II were principally aligned with military questions. The study of underwater acoustic, which was significant for positioning submarines, and the study of waves and surf, which was important for the amphibious task force, dominated the marine research.