 For vigilant watchstanding and promptly rescuing the three people, "Oregon II" received the Department of Commerce Gold Medal in 1999.When NOAA retired the fisheries research ship NOAAS "John N. Cobb" (R 552) in August 2008, "Oregon II" became the oldest ship in the NOAA fleet.She achieved a milestone on 27 July 2012, when she departed Pascagoula on her 300th research cruise, an annual assessment of red snapper and shark populations in the Gulf of Mexico and western Atlantic Ocean.