LITUYA

LITUYA (IMO: 9283148) is a Passenger vessel sailing under the United States of America flag. It has an overall length of 180 feets and a beam of 49 feets.

LITUYA

Vessel Identification

Specifications

Propulsion

Shipyard

Owner / Operator

Operating Region

• Primary Area: Southeast Alaska and Gulf of Alaska
• Secondary Area: Pacific Coast of the United States
• Operational Waters: Coastal and nearshore environments, inland waterways, and fjords of Southeast Alaska
• Operational Limitations: Designed for coastal and inshore operations; not an oceangoing deep-water vessel

Vessel Description

The LITUYA is a NOAA coastal research vessel operated by the NOAA Office of Marine and Aviation Operations (OMAO). Named after Lituya Bay, a notable glacial fjord located in Southeast Alaska, the vessel is purpose-built for inshore and coastal scientific research in the challenging and often confined waterways of the Pacific Northwest and Alaska.

The vessel supports a range of NOAA scientific missions including:

• Fisheries stock assessment surveys
• Hydrographic and bathymetric surveys
• Marine ecosystem research
• Habitat mapping

The LITUYA's diesel-electric propulsion system with azimuthing Z-drive thrusters provides excellent maneuverability in tight fjords, coastal inlets, and shallow nearshore environments where larger NOAA research vessels cannot operate. Its shallow draft allows access to areas that would otherwise be inaccessible to conventional research vessels.

The vessel is homeported in Juneau, Alaska, positioning it strategically for its primary mission area in Southeast Alaska and the greater Gulf of Alaska region.

Note: Certain technical specifications, electronics fit, and navigation/communications equipment details are not publicly confirmed in open sources and have been omitted to ensure factual accuracy. For authoritative data, refer to the NOAA Ship LITUYA official vessel data at oceanservice.noaa.gov.