[ASOC]

MAybe "used to have most accurate" maps.

Al Gore - in re-inventing Govt took an axe to the NOAA Corps (#7 of the 7 uniformed services) and tried to disolve the NOAA Dept altogether. Result, NOAA is forced to contract out ocean mapping and the result 'vary'.

Rainer - the ship that made the mountain famous and the beer that made it possible.

[rain in the air]

Who sponsored the bill to eliminate the NOAA Officer Corps? I do not believe it was Gore. He may have supported it, either way why maintain an antiquity of the frontier.
We no longer need to have a military type of organization to perform hydrographic surveys (or any other survey). The NOAA Officer Corps is the remnants of a time when surveying required long periods away from civilization. The methods of transportation available now preclude the necessity of long postings to remote sites that needed to have an officer in charge.