On 17 November 2014, the research vessel "Sonne" was handed over to its home institute, the Institute of Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment (ICBM), in Wilhelmshaven.

116 metres long, 21 metres wide and with space for 40 researchers and 35 crew members, the SONNE is a floating high-performance laboratory. Built at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, the deep-sea research vessel is still helping to answer questions of particular scientific and social relevance today, especially with regard to climate change, the supply of marine raw materials and the consequences of interference in ecosystems. The main areas of operation are in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

The high-tech ship offers extensive technical capacities to carry out measurements in the deepest trenches of the world's oceans. Underwater vehicles and drilling equipment can be deployed in parallel. 17 laboratories enable chemical and biological analyses to be carried out directly on board. The construction costs, which totalled 124.4 million euros at the time, were largely covered by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. The coastal Federal States together invested 10 per cent, of which Lower Saxony contributed a good half.