The scientific research drilling ship JOIDES Resolution began operations in January 1985 as the Sedco/BP 471. The vessel is named for the HMS Resolution, commanded by Captain James Cook over 200 years ago, which explored the Pacific Ocean, its islands, and the Antartic region. Like its namesake, the purpose of the current Resolution is to sail for scientific exploration. But this time, those discoveries lie deep beneath the oceans.

The physical dimensions of the ship are remarkable. Fitted with a derrick standing 61.5 m (202 ft) above the water line, the 143 m (469 ft) long ship is 21 m (68.9 ft) wide. During a leg, the crew positions the ship over the drill site using 12 computer-controlled thrusters as well as the main propulsion system. The rig can suspend as much as 9,150 m (30,020 ft) of drill pipe to an ocean depth as great as 8,235 m (27,018 ft).

Near the center of the ship is the "moon pool," which is a 7 m (23 ft) wide hole, through which the drill string is lowered. Each pipe joint is about 28.5 m (93.5 ft) and weighs about 874 kg (1925 lb). The drill crew uses the draw works to thread each joint to the drill string. The process of lowering the drill bit, which is affixed to the end of the drill string, takes about 12 hours in 5,500 m (18,045 ft) of water (Lowering the Drill String; 1-Mb mpeg illustration). To core through the seafloor, the entire drill string is rotated. The thrusters mounted underneath and facing perpendicular to the long axis of the ship keep the massive vessel from rotating.

The ship has a "lab stack" where ten laboratories are organized on seven floors with over 12,000 sq ft of space. On Deck 1 (Hold) at the bottom of the vessel is the general cold storage. Deck 2 (Lower 'Tween) has the refrigerated core storage and the "second look lab." Here, scientists can view core after it has been placed into cold storage. Deck 3 (Upper 'Tween) houses the electronics shop and photography lab. On Deck 4 (Main) are the computer user room, computer center, and science lounge. Deck 5 (Fo'c'sle) contains paleontology, microscope, chemistry, thin section, and X-ray laboratories. Deck 6 (Bridge) is where core handling, sampling, and description are done. Also on this deck are the physical properties and paleomagnetics laboratories. At the fantail of the ship (Poop Deck), the underway geophysics lab controls the equipment to gather ship position, water depth, and magnetic data useful to study the topography of the subocean floor geology. See a cross-section of the ship for more information.

Work aboard the ship never ceases; operations continue 24 hours a day. A ship's complement can consist of 50 scientists and technicians and 65 crew members. The drilling subcontractor is Transocean. The curatorial staff control the preservation of cores. The photographer records the appearance of each core when it first arrives into the core laboratory. Even during port call, work continues around the clock.

A review of the statistics garnered by the JOIDES Resolution from January 1985 (Leg 100) to February 1999 (Leg 183) reveal the intensity with which explorations are conducted (units are in meters, U.S. feet, and U.S. miles):

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