The RRS Charles Darwin was a Royal Research Ship

Royal Research Ship

A Royal Research Ship is a British-operated merchant ship that conducts research for British Government scientific research organisations, notably the British Antarctic Survey and the Natural Environment Research Council...

 belonging to the British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 Natural Environment Research Council

Natural Environment Research Council

The Natural Environment Research Council is a British research council that supports research, training and knowledge transfer activities in the environmental sciences.-History:...

. Since 2006, she has been the geophysical survey vessel, RV Ocean Researcher,

History

RRS Charles Darwin was built in 1985 by Appledore Shipbuilders

Appledore Shipbuilders

-History:The Appledore Yard was founded in 1855 on the estuary of the River Torridge. The Richmond Dry Dock was built in 1856 by William Yeo and named after Richmond Bay in Prince Edward Island, where the Yeo family's shipping fleet was based....

 in Devon

Devon

Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...

. Named after the eminent English naturalist

Charles Darwin

Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...

, she was used primarily for research in oceanography

Oceanography

Oceanography , also called oceanology or marine science, is the branch of Earth science that studies the ocean...

, geology

Geology

Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...

, and geophysics

Geophysics

Geophysics is the physics of the Earth and its environment in space; also the study of the Earth using quantitative physical methods. The term geophysics sometimes refers only to the geological applications: Earth's shape; its gravitational and magnetic fields; its internal structure and...

. After 21 years of service, Charles Darwin was retired in June 2006, and replaced by the .

Purchased by Gardline Marine Sciences Limited of Great Yarmouth

Great Yarmouth

Great Yarmouth, often known to locals as Yarmouth, is a coastal town in Norfolk, England. It is at the mouth of the River Yare, east of Norwich.It has been a seaside resort since 1760, and is the gateway from the Norfolk Broads to the sea...

, she was renamed RV Ocean Researcher, and now conducts geophysical surveys.

Science cruises

RRS Charles Darwin carried out 180 research cruises, worldwide, in her 21 years as a Natural Environment Research Council ship. The first cruise, in 1985, in the Northeast Atlantic, was led by Professor John Gould. Researchers from the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton

National Oceanography Centre, Southampton

The National Oceanography Centre, Southampton describes the integrated collaboration between the Southampton-based part of the Natural Environment Research Council’s National Oceanography Centre, and University of Southampton Ocean and Earth Science...

, studying climate change, have used RRS Charles Darwin to investigate the slowing of the Gulf Stream

Gulf Stream

The Gulf Stream, together with its northern extension towards Europe, the North Atlantic Drift, is a powerful, warm, and swift Atlantic ocean current that originates at the tip of Florida, and follows the eastern coastlines of the United States and Newfoundland before crossing the Atlantic Ocean...

. Her final cruise was a geophysical survey for the British Geological Survey

British Geological Survey

The British Geological Survey is a partly publicly funded body which aims to advance geoscientific knowledge of the United Kingdom landmass and its continental shelf by means of systematic surveying, monitoring and research. The BGS headquarters are in Keyworth, Nottinghamshire, but other centres...

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