WHITE SANDS (AGDS 1) Class

Quick Links Menu.

USS White Sands (AGDS 1) in August 1972 after releasing the bathyscaph Trieste II for a dive.
Click on this photograph for links to larger images of this class.

Class: WHITE SANDS (AGDS 1)
Design: Navy ARD
Displacement (tons): 5,200. Lifting capacity (tons): 3,500
Dimensions (feet): 491.7' oa x 81' oa x 33.25' when submerged, 5.7' light
Armament: none
Accommodations: unk.
Speed (kts.): n/a
Propulsion (HP): n/a
Machinery: none

Construction:

AGDS	Name	Reclas	Builder	Keel	Launch	Comm
1	WHITE SANDS	1 Aug 1973	Pacific Bridge, Alameda CA	20 Dec 1943	ca Jan 1944	COMM

Disposition:

AGDS	Name	T	Decomm	Strike	Disposal	Fate	MA Sale
1	WHITE SANDS		DECOM	1 Apr 1974	14 Aug 1974	Navy sale

Class Notes:
Designed for docking DD, SS, and LST types, rated as a service craft as were all floating dry docks. Support vessel for the bathyscaphe TRIESTE II (DSV 1). From 1969 to 1974 the non-self propelled WHITE SANDS (ARD 20), the fleet tug APACHE (ATF 67) which gave her mobility, and TRIESTE II formed the "Integral Operating Unit" (IOU). On 6 September 1973 SECNAV reclassified WHITE SANDS (ARD 20) to AGDS 1 effective (retroactively) on 1 August 1973. The classification AGDS was officially established on 3 January 1974 in the service craft category, the nomenclature being Auxiliary Deep Submergence Support Vehicle. With the replacement of WHITE SANDS by POINT BARROW (AGDS 2 ex AKD 1) imminent, this AGDS classification was cancelled on 8 March 1974 and a new AGDS classification was established on the same date in the Auxiliary Ships category with the nomenclature changed from Vehicle to Ship.

Ship Notes:

AGDS	Name	MA	Notes
1	WHITE SANDS		(ex ARD 20, compl. Mar 1944). [WHITE SANDS sale 1 Sep 1974 PHS] Resold to Marine Power and Equipment of Seattle for use as building dock for SWOBs.