The Silas Bent class is frequently found applied to four ships though the Naval Vessel Register and some sources officially break them into the subclasses of AGS-26 and AGS-33 . Silas Bent was the first of the first four purpose built ships for U.S. Navy surveys. Previous ships had been modifications of various naval types.
17-552: Two ships were built to essentially the same design at two different yards. The AGS-26 and AGS-33 ( Wilkes ) subclass ships were externally almost identical with slightly different modernized internal configuration reflecting their being laid down (July 1968) three years after Bent's delivery to the Navy 23 July 1965 (See photos at references). The two AGS-33 ships are USNS Wilkes (T-AGS-33) and USNS Wyman (T-AGS-34) USNS Wilkes (AGS-33) and USNS Wyman (AGS-34) were laid down on
34-671: A civilian crew, served with MSC under the technical direction of the Oceanographer of the Navy. In addition to the MSC crew, who operated and maintained the ship, there was a complement of civilian technicians and scientists aboard who were part of Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVOCEANO). Initially assigned to MSC Atlantic, the Wyman made several cruises in the North Atlantic, visiting such ports as Reykjavik, Tromso, Bergen, Rota, Lisbon, and Glasgow during
51-574: A standard Navy AN/UYK computer. Later Bent was equipped with the Oceanographic Data Acquisition System (ODAS), operational 1971, as were the later oceanographic survey ships Kane and Wilkes . The Wyman replaced USNS Sgt. George D Keathley (T-AGS-35) for geophysical, particularly gravity, and bathymetric surveys. Wyman was equipped first with the Hydrographic Data Acquisition System (HYDAS) that
68-413: A very early seagoing data processing system made up of two Digital Equipment Corporation PDP-9 computers that shared a central 'drum' disk drive. KSR-35 TTYs were used as the primary system consoles and a Calcomp flatbed plotter kept a real-time track of the ship's position. This equipment was all replaced in the mid-1970s by a new narrow beam swath system. The swath array, replacing the single beam system,
85-605: Is located on the northwest side of Suisun Bay (the northern portion of the greater San Francisco Bay estuary) in Benicia, California. The fleet is within a regulated navigation area that is about 4 + 1 ⁄ 2 miles (7.2 kilometers) long and 1 ⁄ 2 mile (0.80 km) wide. It begins just north of the Union Pacific Railroad Bridge and runs northeast, parallel to the shoreline. Water depths range from about 46 feet (14 meters) at Mean Lower Low Water (MLLW) at
102-663: The Defoe Shipbuilding Company of Bay City, Michigan . Launched on 30 October 1969, sponsored by Mrs. Francis J. Blouin, wife of the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations, Vice Admiral Francis J. Blouin ; she was accepted by the Military Sealift Command (MSC) on 19 November 1971 at the Boston Naval Shipyard. Wyman , designed and built to conduct hydrographic and oceanographic studies and operated by
119-684: The James River Reserve Fleet in Virginia and the Beaumont Reserve Fleet in Texas. The State of California and several environmental groups have raised concerns about the environmental impacts of the fleet. Potential concerns include heavy metals and anti-fouling agents in the paint that is peeling off of the vessels, as well as PCBs and other hazardous materials that may have been released. Congress responded to these concerns by funding
136-521: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to design and implement a study of contaminants in the vicinity of the fleet. NOAA's Damage Assessment, Response, and Restoration Program (DARRP) began work on this project in January 2008. Since then, NOAA's team has assessed existing data from the area to determine data gaps, researched the history and environmental setting of the site, discussed
153-624: The Maritime Administration ( MARAD ), laid up at the National Defense Reserve Fleet (NDRF) at laid up 21 March 2001 at the National Defense Reserve Fleet (NDRF) at Suisun Bay , CA, California. The ship was under contract for scrapping by ESCO Marine, Inc. with scrapping completed 1 October 2014. Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet The Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet colloquially known as the mothball fleet ,
170-640: The United States Government has reached an agreement with Arc Ecology, San Francisco BayKeeper, Natural Resources Defense Council, and the California Regional Water Quality Control Board, San Francisco Bay Region (Regional Board) regarding the maintenance and disposal of obsolete ships owned by the U.S. Department of Transportation's Maritime Administration (MARAD) at the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet site, resolving
187-480: The early 1970s. One of the first women to serve MSC at sea came aboard as the ship's Medical Officer in early 1974. The Wyman was transferred to MSC Pacific on 16 November 1974 for a brief tour of duty that lasted into the summer of 1975. She was returned to MSC Atlantic at Port Canaveral , Florida , on 21 August 1975 and remained active with that fleet into 1979. The ship's original echo sounding equipment and Hydrographic Data Acquisition System (HDAS) consisted of
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#1732869333720204-708: The end of World War II. At its peak in 1950, it had more than 2,000 ships in lay-up. One of the reserve sites is in Suisun Bay , in the northern portion of San Francisco Bay, in California. Only a small portion of vessels currently remain with the Suisun fleet. In January 2016, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and MARAD have officially announced the Suisun site closure in February 2017, any remaining ships will be sold at auction or scrapped. The only occupied reserve fleets are
221-441: The foot of the anchorage, to about 26 feet (8 m) MLLW at the shallowest berths towards the northern end of the anchorage. As of February 2024 , seven ships remain in the fleet ( see below ). The United States Maritime Administration (MARAD) military caretaker oversees the National Defense Reserve Fleet , which serves as a buffer of ships for national defense and national emergency purposes. The program began in 1946 at
238-573: The project with numerous stakeholders, conducted a site visit, and developed and refined a sampling and analysis plan. NOAA deployed bivalve samples in June 2008 and collected sediment and bivalve tissue samples from the area in July 2008. A second field sampling event for additional tissue samples occurred in September. These samples were analyzed and a data report was delivered in early 2009. Based on these findings,
255-415: The same day, 18 July 1968, at the same shipyard, Defoe Shipbuilding Company , Bay City, Michigan . The ships were designed to be capable of surveys supporting hydrographic and bathymetric charting and oceanographic requirements. They differed chiefly in installed equipment and systems, particularly data acquisition systems. The initial Bent installation was a prototype "Shipboard Survey System" based on
272-571: Was replaced in the mid-1970s by a new narrow beam swath system with its own specialized data acquisition system. The swath array, replacing the single beam system, was the Bottom Topography Survey Subsystem (BOTOSS) and the processing system, replacing HYDAS, was the Bathymetric Survey System (BASS). USNS Wyman (T-AGS-34) USNS Wyman (T-AGS-34) was an oceanographic survey vessel laid down on 18 July 1968 by
289-518: Was the Bottom Topography Survey Subsystem (BOTOSS) and the processing system, replacing HDAS, was the Bathymetric Survey System (BASS). The initial BOTOSS hull mounting was subject to air bubble interference so that a new arrangement on a fairing and foil mounted on the keel was required to house the array elements during a 1974-1975 period in a West Coast yard. Wyman was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 3 May 1999, and transferred to
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