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USNS Chauvenet (T-AGS-29)

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31-493: USNS Chauvenet (T-AGS-29) was a multi-function (littoral, coastal and deep ocean) survey ship laid down on 24 May 1967, at Upper Clyde Shipbuilding Corp. , Glasgow, Scotland. The ship was the second survey ship, Chauvenet  (AGS-11) being the first, named for William Chauvenet (1820-1870). He was instrumental in the founding of the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, MD. The mathematics department of

62-734: A 260 berth training ship for Texas A&M University, Galveston, Texas named Texas Clipper II . The converted ship began sea trials 28 May 1997 completing those on 30 May. On 3 June 1997 the ship began the first summer cruise as a training ship. Future cruises included visits to Valparaiso , Chile and the Galapagos Islands in the summer of 1998. In 1999 the cruise visited the ports of the Canary Islands and Lisbon , Portugal, Cork , Ireland and Le Havre , France. The following cruises were largely in North American waters until 2002. That summer

93-592: A complement of military and civilian surveyors. The ship embarked four 36 ft (11.0 m) launches, two helicopters, chart production and printing equipment, the Navy/civilian survey detachment and a Marine Corps coastal survey team with landing and shore vehicles. Survey operations, under NAVOCEANO's Hydrographic Surveys Department, were conducted by the United States Navy's (USN) Oceanographic Survey Unit 4 (OCUNIT4). United States Navy units aboard consisted of

124-645: A controlling stake of 51%. The consolidation was a result of the Geddes Report , published in 1966, and the subsequent Shipbuilding Industry Act 1967 (sponsored by the Minister of Technology , then Anthony Wedgwood Benn ) which recommended rationalisation and horizontal integration of shipbuilding in the United Kingdom into large regional groups, aided with grants from the state Shipbuilding Industry Board, in order to achieve economies of scale and better compete in

155-680: A helicopter detachment, a detachment of Seabees as well as several other Navy departments supporting survey missions. The ship, primarily assigned to the Pacific, was equipped with an early shipboard data acquisition and processing system designated the Hydrographic Data Acquisition System (HYDAS) based on the PDP-9 computer. The identical system was installed aboard Harkness . Similar systems were installed on Sgt. George D Keathley (T-AGS-35) and Kellar  (T-AGS-25) . One computer

186-411: A policy that refused further state-support for "lame duck" industries, which led to a crisis of confidence amongst UCS creditors and resulted in severe cash flow problems for the company. After the government refused UCS a £6m working capital loan as a lender of last resort , the company was forced to enter liquidation although the yards had a full order book and a forecasted profit in 1972. After

217-701: Is a body of water in the southwestern area of the Philippines , separated from the South China Sea in the northwest by Palawan and from the Celebes Sea in the southeast by the Sulu Archipelago . Borneo is found to the southwest and Visayas to the northeast. The Sulu Sea contains a number of islands. The Cuyo Islands and the Cagayan Islands are part of the province of Palawan whereas Mapun and

248-563: The Sulu Sea while transiting from Subic Bay to survey areas in Indonesia . Damage was considerable with flooding of several spaces. Navy salvage operations based aboard Brunswick  (ATS-3) over two weeks refloated the ship for temporary repairs at the Ship Repair Facility at Subic before being towed to Sasebo , Japan for permanent repairs. Chauvenet was inactivated and placed in

279-1006: The Turtle Islands are part of the province of Tawi-Tawi . Sulu Sea is also where the Tubbataha Reef National Marine Park , one of the World Heritage Sites is located. Panay Gulf is an extension of the Sulu Sea. Straits out of the Sulu Sea include the Iloilo Strait , the Guimaras Strait , and the Basilan Strait . The sea's surface area is 260,000 square kilometers (100,000 sq mi). The Pacific Ocean flows into Sulu Sea in northern Mindanao and between Sangihe talaud Archipelago, North Sulawesi. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) defines

310-655: The U.S. Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVOCEANO). The ship was assigned to the Pacific for surveys, sister ship Harkness  (T-AGS-32) was assigned Atlantic duties, doing so until inactivated in November 1992. In February 1996 the Navy turned title to the ship over to the Maritime Administration (MARAD). MARAD had the ship altered to become a 260 berth training ship, Texas Clipper II , for use by Texas A&M University , Galveston , Texas arriving there 30 May 1997 with

341-625: The Conservative government relented to the demands of the workers and restructured the yards around two new companies: Govan Shipbuilders was established (formerly Fairfields), along with its subsidiary Scotstoun Marine Ltd (formerly Connells). Yarrow Shipbuilders had already withdrawn from UCS in April 1970 and regained its status as an independent company (until 1977, when it was nationalised as part of British Shipbuilders , along with Govan Shipbuilders). A fourth yard, at Clydebank (formerly John Brown),

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372-819: The DOD Missile Defense Agency. MARAD owns and operates Pacific Collector for the Department of Defense. The ship serves as the DOD Missile Defense Agency's Missile Instrumentation Ship home ported in Portland Oregon . Along with Pacific Tracker the ship is one of the agency's sea based platforms collecting and recording critical test data. The ship also hosts the Pacific Collector Range Safety System (PCRSS) for positive control over test missile flight termination systems. Upper Clyde Shipbuilders Upper Clyde Shipbuilders ( UCS )

403-558: The Eastern end of Jolo Island , through Jolo to a point in long. 121°04'E on its South coast, thence through Tapul and Lugus Islands and along the North coast of Tawi Tawi Island to Bongao Island off its Western end ( 5°01′N 119°45′E  /  5.017°N 119.750°E  / 5.017; 119.750 ), and from thence to Tanjong Labian, the Northeastern extreme of Borneo. On

434-505: The Maritime Administration (MARAD) National Defense Reserve Fleet 7 November 1992 with title transferred to MARAD 16 February 1994. The two large hydrographic survey ships were replaced by the much smaller coastal hydrographic survey ships USNS  John McDonnell  (T-AGS-51) and USNS  Littlehales  (T-AGS-52) . The Maritime Administration had the ship converted by Stevens Technical Services, Brooklyn, N.Y., into

465-628: The Northwestern extreme of Panay , along the West and Southeast coast of that island to Tagubanhan Island ( 11°08′N 123°07′E  /  11.133°N 123.117°E  / 11.133; 123.117 ), thence a line to the Northern extreme of Negros and down the West coast to Siaton Point, its Southern extreme, thence across to Tagolo Point ( 8°44′N 123°22′E  /  8.733°N 123.367°E  / 8.733; 123.367 ), Mindanao . On

496-529: The Southeast. From Tagolo Point, down the West coast of Mindanao to the Southwest extremity thence to the North coast of Basilan Island ( 6°45′N 122°04′E  /  6.750°N 122.067°E  / 6.750; 122.067 ), through this island to its Southern extremity, thence a line to Bitinan Island ( 6°04′N 121°27′E  /  6.067°N 121.450°E  / 6.067; 121.450 ) off

527-466: The Sulu Sea as being one of the waters of the East Indian Archipelago . The IHO defines its limits as follows: It extends about 490 miles (790 km) from north to south and 375 miles (604 km) from east to west. Waves can stretch across 25 kilometers (16 mi) to 35 kilometers (22 mi). The sea is 4,400 meters (14,400 ft) deep but on its southern end Sulu Archipelago raises

558-746: The US Naval Academy in Annapolis was founded by Chauvenet and is housed in Chauvenet Hall. Chauvenet was launched on 13 May 1968, delivered to the US Navy, 13 November 1970 and placed in service with the Military Sealift Command (MSC) as USNS Chauvenet (T-AGS-29). The ship conducted coastal hydrographic and topographic surveys under the technical direction of the Oceanographer of the Navy through

589-437: The company's collapse, rather than striking, unions representing the shipyard's workers decided to conduct a " work-in " to complete orders already in place. The work-in was led by a group of young shop stewards, including Jimmy Reid , Jimmy Airlie , Sammy Barr and Sammy Gilmore . Reid wanted to ensure the workers projected the best image of the yard workers he possibly could, and he insisted on tight discipline. He addressed

620-636: The first training cruise beginning on 3 June 1997. Training cruises continued until 2005 with the ship entering the agency's Beaumont Reserve Fleet on 26 July. With exception of use in Hurricane Rita relief in October 2005 the ship remained there until taken out for conversion into the Missile Instrumentation Ship Pacific Collector , owned and operated by MARAD for the Department of Defense, Missile Defense Agency . Chauvenet

651-424: The gathered crowd. The campaign was also well-backed financially, and at one meeting for the campaign, Jimmy Reid was able to announce that the campaign had received a £5,000 contribution from John Lennon , to which an attendee replied "but Lenin 's deid!" (dead). The Thatcher Conservative government would be more far-reaching in its attempts to remove state involvement in industrial affairs. In February 1972,

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682-459: The loss-making Upper Clyde Shipbuilders went into receivership (only one yard of the five, Yarrow Shipbuilders Ltd , remained profitable but had left the joint venture in April 1970). In February 1971, in the wake of the emergency nationalisation of Rolls-Royce Limited , the then Conservative government under Edward Heath and the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry , John Davies , announced

713-489: The market for increasingly large merchant vessels like VLCCs . The creation of these groupings included Scott Lithgow on the Lower Clyde , Swan Hunter on Tyneside and Robb Caledon on the east coast of Scotland. The government had a 48.4% minority holding in the consortium and provided a £5.5m interest-free government loan over the first three years. UCS had a combined order book at the time worth £87m. In June 1971,

744-591: The sea floor to 100 meters (330 ft). On the Northwest. From Tanjong Sempang Mangayau , the North point of Borneo , along the Eastern limit of South China Sea to Cape Calavite, the Northwest point of Mindoro . On the Northeast. The Southwest coast of Mindoro to Buruncan Point, its Southern extreme, thence a line through Semirara and Caluya Islands to Nasog Point ( 11°53′N 121°53′E  /  11.883°N 121.883°E  / 11.883; 121.883 )

775-412: The ship visited Stavanger , Norway and Aalborg , Denmark. Following cruises were again in North American waters until the last cruise was completed 16 July 2005. On 26 July 2005 the ship entered the agency's Beaumont Reserve Fleet but was reactivated 7 October for Hurricane Rita relief at Lake Charles, Louisiana . During 2006 the ship was converted with the name changed to Pacific Collector for use by

806-449: The ship was to replace Kellar in such work in the Pacific and begin surveying supporting production of combat charts, special Naval charts at 1:50,000 scale showing hydrography and topography to support fire and air support during amphibious operations. Chauvenet grounded two hours before midnight 8 May 1982 on Dauisan Reef ( 09°47′0″N 121°13′30″W  /  9.78333°N 121.22500°W  / 9.78333; -121.22500 ) in

837-650: The workers at the yards, where he instructed them that there should be "no hooliganism, no vandalism and no bevvying [drinking]". The shipbuilders' tactics worked, and public sympathy in the Glasgow area and beyond was on the side of the workers who took part. That was backed up with demonstrations in Glasgow, one of which was attended by around 80,000 marchers. At one demonstration, on Glasgow Green , Tony Benn addressed those in attendance, and Matt McGinn and Billy Connolly (both former shipyard workers) offered entertainment to

868-1013: Was a Scottish shipbuilding consortium , created in 1968 as a result of the amalgamation of five major shipbuilders of the River Clyde . It entered liquidation , with much controversy, in 1971. That led to a " work-in " campaign at the company's shipyards , involving shop stewards Jimmy Airlie and Jimmy Reid , among others. The Company was formed in February 1968 from the amalgamation of five Upper Clyde Shipbuilding firms: Fairfield in Govan (Govan Division), Alexander Stephen and Sons in Linthouse (Linthouse Division), Charles Connell and Company in Scotstoun (Scotstoun Division) and John Brown and Company at Clydebank (Clydebank Division), as well as an associate subsidiary, Yarrow Shipbuilders Ltd , in which UCS held

899-745: Was dedicated to real time collection of survey data and another to processing the data for making nautical charts or being a backup for the real time data collection in event of failure of that computer. A real time navigation plot was generated on a flatbed plotter. The processing computer processed data collected by the ship and the sounding launches which had an associated data collection system designated HYSURCH for hydrographic survey and charting system. The launches themselves were 36 foot fiber glass, diesel powered, "sports sedans" capable of 30 kn (35 mph; 56 km/h) smooth water speed and modified for survey operation. By 1972, following shakedown in which test surveys were made in areas of civilian interest

930-502: Was sold to Marathon Oil as an oil-rig fabrication yard; which eventually closed in 2001. In 1999, two major shipyards on the Upper Clyde (the former Yarrow and Fairfields yards) were acquired by the defence contractor BAE Systems and became part of BAE Systems Surface Ships . Sulu Sea The Sulu Sea ( Filipino : Dagat Sulu ; Tausug : Dagat sin Sūg ; Malay : Laut Sulu )

961-523: Was the first Navy vessel specifically designed and built to conduct coastal hydrographic surveys. With sister ship Harkness the two were to replace the World War II transports converted to coastal survey ships Tanner  (AGS-15) and Maury  (AGS-16) . The ship was operated by MSC with a civilian crew under the technical direction of the Oceanographer of the Navy through the U.S. Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVOCEANO). The surveys were conducted by

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