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Kongsberg Discovery has helped transform the 111-year-old, three-masted sailing ship Statsraad Lehmkuhl into a state-of-the-art research vessel for the upcoming One Ocean Expedition, departing from Bergen, Norway, on April 11.
The nearly 100-meter-long vessel, Norway’s largest sailing ship, has been equipped with a suite of Kongsberg Discovery technology to help scientists monitor and better analyze unique ocean environments, including the waters of the Northwest Passage.
Onboard systems now include 75 and 300 kHz ADCPs, EK80 echo sounders, an advanced hydrophone cluster, and the Seapath GNSS-aided inertial navigation system. Blue Insight, a cutting-edge ocean data management and analytics platform, will process and share captured data with land-based teams on a daily basis. In addition, a wide range of equipment—such as weather stations, water samplers, situational awareness tools, and motion reference units—has also been integrated.
The One Ocean Expedition 2025–2026 is a 12-month voyage covering 26 ports across three continents. It will feature a crew composed of experienced scientists, students, and key stakeholders crossing the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean, the Arctic, the Pacific, and the Caribbean.
The team will collect a wealth of data along the way to help assess ocean health, monitor marine ecosystems, and evaluate the impacts of climate change, contributing to broader knowledge and awareness of pressing global challenges.
Global Benefits
Kongsberg Discovery’s innovations will be used on several key assignments, including measuring ocean currents with the ADCP to investigate how marine life is affected by water movement, and recording underwater noise using hydrophones to monitor pollution and detect marine mammals such as whales.
The One Ocean Expedition sets sail during One Ocean Week in Bergen, with planned stops in Reykjavik, Nuuk (Greenland), Cambridge Bay (Canada), Seattle, La Paz (Mexico), Cartagena (Colombia), Cádiz, and Dublin. During its stop in Nice, France, members of the vessel’s team will participate in the 2025 UN Ocean Conference. Statsraad Lehmkuhl is expected to return to Bergen in April 2026, coinciding with the following year’s One Ocean Week.
Martin Wien Fjell, President of Kongsberg Discovery, commented, “It is a great honour to be supporting this crucial expedition with our cutting-edge solutions. The ship will work as a unique data acquisition platform, empowering insights in often remote and little-understood environments, such as the Northwest Passage, while gathering invaluable information about the broader state of ocean health.
“Our systems are perfectly suited to the tasks ahead, performing with proven reliability, optimal precision and high-quality results in even the most demanding conditions. We’re looking forward to setting sail, while also helping the students set sail on their careers as the next generation of ocean scientists and explorers. We believe major discoveries await.”
Haakon Vatle, CEO and expedition leader, The One Ocean Expedition, added, “The Statsraad Lehmkuhl is an incredible vessel, but to meet the ambitious expedition goals, it needed a major technology upgrade. We’re immensely grateful to Kongsberg Discovery and the Kongsberg Group for their commitment to tailor a technology package that will allow us to shine light on the depths and unlock a level of understanding that, we hope, can benefit the entire world.”
