RV Petrel, or R/V Petrel (IMO: 9268629, MMSI: 235102789), is a research vessel owned by the United States Navy and once owned by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. The ship is named after the petrel, a sea bird. The ship was completed by Brattvaag Skipsverft, Norway in 2003 as the deepwater offshore inspection vessel Seaway Petrel for service with Stolt Offshore. It was later renamed Acergy Petrel, then Seven Petrel with Subsea 7.
In 2016, the ship was purchased by Allen, renamed Petrel and converted for deep-submergence research and archeology. Over two dozen wrecks were explored and recorded between 2017 and 2020, when the ship was laid up. In October 2022, it was purchased by the United States Navy's Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command, for operation under Oceaneering International management.
Paul Allen's explorations
Prior to 2020, the primary mission of the ship, which was fully funded by Allen's estate, was to explore historically significant wrecks at challenging depths and conditions. A precondition set by Allen was for discovered wrecks to be respected as war graves and their locations kept secret, known to only national governments and museums. In the PBS documentary USS Indianapolis Live from the Deep, Allen said, "We've done a number of these explorations to try to find sunken warships. We try to do these both as really exciting examples of underwater archaeology and as tributes to the brave men [who] went down on these ships". Petrels other mission profile included hosting scientific projects under Allen's mother company, Vulcan Inc.
Petrel explorations were coordinated with organizations around the world. For United States Navy wrecks, the team collaborated with the Naval History and Heritage Command. In the Philippines, the crew worked with the National Museum and the Battle of Surigao Strait Memorial Council. In 2018, Petrel worked with Australian National Maritime Museum to explore . Robert Kraft, who served as subsea director for Allen, and Paul Mayer, Petrels lead researcher, traveled to Japan to hand over ROV video of Imperial Japanese Navy wrecks to the Yamato Museum.
The project crew was aboard Allen's operating the megayacht's manned-submersible Pagoo, Argus 3000 remotely operated vehicle (ROV) and Bluefin 12D autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV). The 20 civilian marine crew and 10 project crew worked on 12-hour shifts aboard Petrel. The project crew consisted of Kraft the expedition leader, Mayer as lead researcher, four ROV pilots and technicians, one AUV specialist, one multibeam surveyor, one videographer, and one systems support engineer. For each expedition, local historians, scientists, and observers complemented the project crew.
Crew expeditions in 2015 aboard Octopus
Ironbottom Sound expedition
The team, while on board Octopus, mapped of Ironbottom Sound in January 2015, identified 29 wreck locations, seven wreck debris fields, and several possible plane locations. Of the 29 wrecks located, six were positively identified and confirmed to be the heavy cruisers , , , , and , and the light cruiser . Eleven wrecks were "tentatively" identified to be the Japanese destroyers , and , and the American destroyers , , , , , , , and . The identification using the sonar imagery with vessel measurements and historical records is pending confirmation by ROV exploration. The remaining 12 wreck locations were not identified during the expedition and require further study.
Musashi
After several years of searching, the same team discovered the in March 2015. This discovery made news headlines around the world.
HMS Hood bell recovery
In August 2015, the team recovered the bell of after obtaining license from the UK Ministry of Defense. The recovery of the bell was performed upon the request of the HMS Hood Association. Only three of HMS Hoods crew survived and it was the wish of one of them to recover ship's bell as a memorial to shipmates. The bell from HMS Hood was unveiled by the Princess Royal on 24 May 2016 to mark the 75th anniversary of the Royal Navy's largest loss of life (1,415 sailors) from a single vessel.
Malta wreck mapping
While on board Octopus, the project crew deployed a Bluefin 12D AUV and mapped of seabed around Malta in September 2015. Sonar images of shipwrecks, several aircraft, torpedoes, and debris field were captured by the AUV.
Ship details
Following the Musashi discovery and the Hood expedition in 2015, Allen bought Petrel in 2016, refitting her as a dedicated research and exploration platform.
Petrel expeditions in 2017
Artigliere
Petrel found the Italian Regia Marina World War II destroyer in March 2017.