NOAAS George B. Kelez
NOAAS George B. Kelez (R 441), previously NOAAS George B. Kelez (CRS 41), was an American research vessel in commission in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) fleet from 1972 to 1980. Prior to her NOAA career, she operated under the United States Fish and Wildlife Service′s Bureau of Commercial Fisheries from 1962 to 1970 as US FWS George B. Kelez and the National Marine Fisheries Service from 1970 to 1972 as NOAAS George B. Kelez (CRS 41). Before becoming a research vessel, the ship was the United States Army freight and supply vessel U.S. Army FS-400 from 1944 to 1950. On transfer to the Navy the vessel was classified as a "light cargo ship" for the United States Navy′s Military Sea Transportation Service as USNS AKL-30 (T-AKL-30) from 1950 to 1961. Construction The ship was built as a U.S. Army freight and supply vessel, Design 381 (officially Vessel, Supply, Diesel, Steel, 177') also called coastal cargo ships. The type was built by several shipbuilders during World War II with FS-400 being the last of a series of the design built by Ingalls Shipbuilding, Decatur, Alabama, in 1944. NOAA history, primarily concerned with the NOAA operation of the vessel,