With its up-to-date equipment infrastructure and unlimited navigational possibilities, the Research Vessel and research boats conduct scientific research in the Turkish seas and provide important information for monitoring pollution and protecting the marine environment.

Today, multidisciplinary marine research infrastructure is required for maritime activities such as energy and mineral resource exploration, defense, coastal zone management, transportation, fisheries and tourism. On the other hand, our coastal areas, especially the Turkish Straits, special protection zones and seas are under threat from hazardous wastes such as oil and oil derivatives, bilge, chemical and radioactive substances and ballast water spilled into the sea by ship transportation and ship accidents. For the effective protection and sustainable use of our national marine environment, it is important to investigate oceanographic, hydrographic and climatic dynamics, identify biodiversity and determine the effects of pollutants on the marine environment.

For these reasons, it is considered that a research vessel equipped to operate in our Exclusive Economic Sea Areas and in international waters will make a significant contribution to national maritime research.Establishment of a National Center for Applied Marine Research on Sea and Maritime Subjects at TÜBİTAK Gebze Campus and Establishment of Networks with Related Institutions" to carry out these oceanographic studies. In order to achieve this goal, the construction of a regional class and medium-sized (41.2 m) research vessel (R/V TÜBİTAK MARMARA) capable of carrying out these oceanographic studies was completed and commissioned on July 1, 2013.