In support of the need for oceanographic fleet replacement, the Office of Naval Research (ONR) is currently in the early design process for the first of two new Ocean Class ships and requires near-term advice on how the rapid advancements in ocean observing technology and the impacts of rising costs will impact the future fleet relative to Navy needs. Therefore, ONR has requested that the National Research Council (NRC) appoint an ad hoc committee to review the scientific and technological issues that may affect the evolution of the University National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS) academic fleet, including: - How technological advances such as Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) and ocean observing systems will affect the role and characteristics of the future UNOLS fleet with regard to accomplishing national oceanographic data collection objectives. - The most important factors in oceanographic research vessel design. Do specialized research needs dominate the design criteria and, if so, what are the impacts on costs and overall availability? - How evolving modeling and remote sensing technologies will impact the balance between various research operations such as ground-truthing, hypothesis testing, exploration, and observation. - How the increasing cost of ship time will affect the types of science done aboard ships. - The usefulness of partnering mechanisms such as UNOLS to support national oceanographic research objectives.This project is sponsored by the Office of Naval Research. The approximate starting date is July 2, 2008. A final report will be issued at the end of the project in approximately 18 months.