After 46 years of service to the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego, the R/V Melville, one of the most well-traveled and well known oceanographic research vessels in the world, will now serve the Philippines.

Facilitated by the U.S. Navy, the transfer of the vessel to the Philippine Navy was celebrated in a commissioning and baptism ceremony.

Appearing in the 1976 King Kong movie, the vessel has led numerous ocean research studies throughout the world, and was even given to the Philippines by the U.S. Military as an excess defense article.

Ready to do research and exploration, it may be used for gathering information that may someday aid in on-going territorial disputes, specifically in the South China Sea.

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