USNS Bowditch (T-AGS 21, VC2-S-AP3) Class

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USNS Michelson (T-AGS 23).
Click on this photograph for links to larger images of this class.

Class: BOWDITCH (T-AGS 21, VC2-S-AP3)
Design: SCB Project No. 179, conversion of MC VC2-S-AP3
Displacement (tons): 4,700 light, 13,050 full
Dimensions (feet): 455' oa, 444' wl x 62' e/wl x 25'
Armament: none
Accommodations: 50 civilian, 12 scientists, about 25 Navy technicians
Speed (kts.): 15
Propulsion (HP): 8,500
Machinery: Geared steam turbines, 2 boilers (465psi/750deg), 1 screw

Construction:

AGS	Name	Acq	Builder	Keel	Launch	Svc
21	BOWDITCH	2 Aug 1957	Oregon SB	11 May 1945	30 Jun 1945	8 Oct 1958
22	DUTTON	5 Nov 1957	Oregon SB	27 Mar 1945	8 May 1945	1 Nov 1958
23	MICHELSON	8 Feb 1958	Oregon SB	5 May 1944	14 Jun 1944	15 Dec 1958

Disposition:

AGS	Name	T	Inact	Strike	Disposal	Fate	MA Sale
21	BOWDITCH	T	ca 1987	28 May 1987	30 Sep 1987	MA	4 Mar 1988
22	DUTTON	T	12 Sep 1989	14 Feb 1990	12 Nov 1993	MA/T	4 Sep 2007
23	MICHELSON	T	1975	15 Apr 1975	22 Sep 1977	MA/S	--

Fates: MA (Custody to MA, misc. transfers); MA/S (Title to MA and ship sold by MA); MA/T (Title to MA, ship sold later)

Class Notes:
Between 26 September and 23 October 1956 CNO added as high priority items three converted surveying ships (AGS) to the proposed FY 1958 shipbuilding program that he submitted to SECNAV. They were practically the only auxiliaries to survive major cuts in that program near the end of 1956. In early November 1956 it was announced within BUSHIPS that Admiral Raborn's Special Projects Office, as an important corollary to the FBM (then Jupiter) program, was sponsoring the conversion of three AGS for precise oceanographic surveys, soon called the Ocean Survey Program. For submarines some of the equipment installed in COMPASS ISLAND (EAG 153, q.v.) to correct and refine the SINS (Ship Inertial Navigation System) was not practical and one attractive method of solving the problem appeared to be a comprehensive underwater survey to find anomalies that were sharply defined, identifiable and returnable to. Two kinds of anomalies were geographic and magnetic, while these three ships were sometimes specifically called "gravity survey ships" indicating special interest in a third kind. A meeting was scheduled for 8 November 1956 in the Special Projects Office to discuss types of ships that might meet the needs of Special Projects and the Hydrographic Office for this mission. In early December it was decided to use Victory ships. The delay in the conversion of OBSERVATION ISLAND (EAG 154, q.v.) that resulted from the December 1956 change from Jupiter to Polaris FBMs freed up SINS equipment for use in two of the "gravity survey ships" and some other equipment for the third ship. A Ship Characteristics Board meeting was scheduled for 13 December 1956 to discuss preliminary characteristics for the survey ships. Approved characteristics for a surveying ship (AGS), SCB Project No. 179, were promulgated on 25 February 1957 with a final change on 30 September 1958. As of mid-December 1956 BUSHIPS was planning to complete conversion plans for signature on 15 April 1957. On 24 April 1957 SecNav requested three ships for conversion to surveying ships and on 14 May 1957 MARAD agreed to the transfer of SOUTH BEND VICTORY, TUSKEGEE VICTORY, and JOLIET VICTORY, all of which had served MSTS under General Agency Agreements between 1950/51 and 1953. The ships were converted in naval shipyards and entered service with MSTS near the end of 1958.

In 1975 MICHELSON was declared unfit for sea and taken out of service. The reasons for this are obscure but it's likely the ship failed a Coast Guard inspection of the hull. The ship's mechanical systems could be repaired or replaced but the hull's integrity was another matter. MICHELSON had experienced cracks in the deck plating during the mid-1960s. To replace MICHELSON the Navy acquired the MARAD type C4-S-1s merchant ship CANADA MAIL and converted her to USNS H H HESS (T-AGS 38), q.v.

To replace BOWDITCH and DUTTON the Navy in the early 1980s planned to convert two merchant ships of the MARAD C3-S-33a type, LAKE and SCAN, then in the MARAD reserve fleet (see the AK 284 class for full details and photo), but Congressional redirection caused the Navy in November 1983 to instead build two new ships. These large ships were built with FY 1985 funds and were named MAURY (AGS 39) and TANNER (AGS 40), repeating the names of a pair of AKAs converted to surveying ships soon after World War II. The new MAURY entered service in 1989 around the time that the old DUTTON was inactivated, but both of the new ships were prematurely taken out of service and struck in 1994 after a catastrophic failure of the crankshaft in one of TANNER's two diesel engines, which were mounted on complex acoustic isolation rafts. Both of the failed surveying ships found second lives as merchant marine training ships, TANNER after re-engining.

Ship Notes:

AGS	Name	MCV	Notes
21	BOWDITCH	694	FY 1958. (ex-SOUTH BEND VICTORY, compl. 27 Jul 1945). Converted by NSY Charleston. Damaged in hurricane Jan 1987 at Rio de Janeiro. To MA custody 30 Sep 1987. Disposed of by MA exchange sale 4 Mar 1988.
22	DUTTON	682	FY 1958. (ex-TUSKEGEE VICTORY, compl. 5 Jun 1945). Renamed/reclassified 8 Aug 1957. Converted by NSY Philadelphia. To MA custody 25 Oct 1989. Departed under dismantlement contract 2 Oct 2007. BU complete 5 Jun 2008.
23	MICHELSON	114	FY 1958. (ex-JOLIET VICTORY, compl. 7 Jul 1944). Converted by NSY Philadelphia. Declared unfit for sea by the USCG ca. 1975 while in port in Japan and to MA custody 29 Apr 1975. Replaced by H H HESS (T-AGS 38). To buyer 17 Oct 1977.