USNS Mirfak (T-AK 271) soon after completion.
Click on this photograph for links to larger images of this class.
Class: ELTANIN (T-AK 270)
Design: MA C1-ME2-13a
Displacement (tons): 2,036 light, 3,886 full
Dimensions (feet): 266.2' oa, 250.0' wl, 235.1'pp x 51.0' wl, 51.5' e x 19.0' full load (DWL)
Armament: none
Accommodations: 59 (12 officers, 6 CPO, 29 crew) 11 officers, 29 unlicensed, 12 passengers
Speed (kts.): 13 (trial)
Propulsion : 3,200 total BHP, 2,700 max continuous SHP
Machinery: Diesel electric, 2 screws
Construction:
| AK | Name | Ord | Builder | Keel | Launch | Svc |
| 270 | ELTANIN | 22 Sep 1955 | Avondale Marine Ways | 4 Jun 1956 | 16 Jan 1957 | 2 Aug 1957 |
| 271 | MIRFAK | 22 Sep 1955 | Avondale Marine Ways | 5 Jul 1956 | 5 Aug 1957 | 4 Oct 1957 |
| 272 | MIZAR | 22 Sep 1955 | Avondale Marine Ways | 21 Jan 1957 | 7 Oct 1957 | 22 Nov 1957 |
Disposition:
| AK | Name | T | Inact/Cust | Strike | Disposal | Fate | MA Sale/Depart |
| 270 | ELTANIN | T | Feb 1973 | 19 Apr 1988 | 2 Jul 1990 | MA/T | 5 Feb 1992 |
| 271 | MIRFAK | T | 11 Dec 1979 | 21 Feb 1992 | 23 Dec 1994 | MA/T | Feb 2003 |
| 272 | MIZAR | T | 17 Jan 1990 | 16 Feb 1990 | 17 Feb 1992 | MA/T | 21 Jul 2005 |
Class Notes:
In July 1953, the U.S. Secretary of Defense appointed a special committee to study Northern American air defenses against Soviet nuclear bombers attempting to penetrate American airspace from over the North Pole. It recommended an $18-25 billion investment to build a string of radar outposts, the Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line, across northern Canada and Greenland during the next five years. In August 1953 the Soviet Union detonated its first hydrogen bomb. On 6 October 1953 the National Security Council approved a plan that included the Arctic DEW Line project. Construction of the dozens of radar sites would involve a major transportation project in an Arctic environment to get the materials and supplies to the sites, and the Air Force asked the Navy's Military Sea Transportation Service to move the cargo by sealift starting in the summer of 1955. Up to then no large ocean-going ship had attempted to navigate the waters east of Point Barrow, Alaska or west of Baffin Island.
As of September 1953 MSTS had a Long-Range Ship Construction Program for ships of highly specialized types that were not available either directly or by conversion from the U.S. merchant marine, the NDRF, or the Navy. Its first project was a prototype vehicle cargo ship (AK 269, later LSV 7 and AKR 7), and by January 1954 six specialized ice-strengthened ships had been added to this program to support construction of the DEW Line. These were three small cargo ships (AK 270-272), two small tankers (AOG 81-82), and one cargo ship dock (AKD 1). The six ice strengthened ships were needed to transport the increased amounts of cargo and petroleum products required for the new Arctic outposts, to extend the season during which essential supplies could be delivered to those bases, and to be available for Arctic operations in the event of a sudden outbreak of hostilities that would not allow waiting for ice to break up sufficiently to allow the use of conventional shipping. On 12 May 1954 Vice Admiral Denebrink, commander of MSTS, testified before the Senate Appropriations Committee in favor of a special appropriation of $50 million in Fiscal Year 1955 to build these seven ships ($18.5 million for AK 269, $11.5 million for AKD 1, $11 million for the AOGs, and $9 million for the small AKs). He explained that under existing directives the financing of capital expenditures for MSTS had to be borne entirely by the Navy, which utilized only 13 percent of the servicewide support furnished by MSTS, and that he was requesting the special appropriation to prevent capital expenditures for MSTS from seriously prejudicing the availability of appropriations for fleet vessels. On 30 June 1954 the President signed the Defense Department Appropriation Act of 1955 which included the separate $50 million special appropriation for MSTS ship construction.
In the meantime, on 19 January 1954 BUSHIPS submitted to MSTS cost estimates for the seven ships in the MSTS program, and it revised these on 28 January 1954 after MSTS specified that for the small AK it wanted a ship of 1,500 SHP, 1 screw, 1,100 light displacement tons, ice strengthened, with diesel electric reduction propulsion and with a crew of 70 men including 40 longshoremen. BUSHIPS recorded the status of design work on the MSTS ships on 23 March 1954. The small ice strengthened cargo ship was intended to be capable of operating well into the ice pack as far north as Thule for a longer period than was then possible with ordinary cargo vessels. Although it would probably operate in company with an ice breaker in heavy ice, this ship was to be able to break light ice and to be strong enough to resist incidental contact with large ice formations. The preliminary design, then about 80% complete, called for a hull form with modified AGB-4 lines, hull strength better than required by ABS for ice strengthening, and a double skin. On 12 April 1954 John C. Niedermair of the BUSHIPS Preliminary Design Branch (Code 420) recorded the final results of the preliminary design study for the ship, which had been conducted in accordance with requirements established by liaison with MSTS. The ship then measured 263’ oa, 250’ wl x 50’ wl x 19’ full draft, 3,700t full load displacement, and 2,264t light displacement (ballasted). (The draft was limited specifically for Goose Bay, Labrador.) She had two continuous decks, the main deck and the tween deck just below it. Her propulsion was diesel-electric (D.C.) direct drive with 3,200bhp installed delivering a continuous maximum power of 2,700shp at 150rpm. The designed trial speed was 13 kts and endurance was 10,000 miles at 12kts. The ship had two screws without ice protection at the request of MSTS despite its disadvantages from a propulsion and protection standpoint. The hull form and appendages were patterned after GLACIER (AGB 4) to retain maximum ice protection features, modified to provide sufficient deadweight for the carriage of cargo. The shape of the bow was taken directly from the AGB 4 lines, also at the specific request of MSTS. (MSTS had originally specified the lines of a WIND class AGB.) The ship had a modified cruiser stern fitted with a towing notch for use in towing in ice. The designed complement was 15 officers, 30 crew, and 12 passengers (stevedores). The two cargo holds, each with two levels, were placed in the optimum location amidships with the bridge, living quarters and machinery aft. A protected passageway on the 'tween deck was provided in the starboard wingwall for access from the living quarters to the secondary conning station in the crow's nest on top of the mainmast amidships (later extended to the forecastle when the conning station was moved there). Each hatch was single-rigged with two 10-ton booms. One 30 ton boom rigged on the centerline served the after holds (upper and lower). Open deck space was maximized to provide stowage for over-the-ice cargo movement and for outsize cargo items (snow-cats for use on the ice were later included). Reefer cargo was carried in the ‘tween deck (upper) hold #2 with 40% frozen and 60% chilled as in latest Navy practice for reefers.
In April 1954 BUSHIPS assigned a contract to produce contract drawings and specifications for the small AK to H. Newton Whittelsey of New York because it was the least complicated of the three ice-strengthened designs and Whittelsey’s qualifications and experience in Navy work were considered adequate to enable him to perform satisfactorily on that design. Whittelsey began work on the contract design on 30 April 1954 based on Niedermair's preliminary design summary of 12 April 1954 with an addendum dated 11 May 1954. On 18 May 1954 the preliminary design was reported to be complete and was forwarded for development of the contract design, subject to a comment from MSTS that the height of the crow's nest was not sufficient to provide visibility close to the bow. Many changes in details were made over the summer. The ice pilot station was originally located on the midship mast at frame 47 but was relocated to a new foremast at frame 15 and arranged to give at least 26 degrees (below the horizontal) visibility over the bow as in recently designed European ships. This station, able to hold three men, was completely outfitted as a second bridge with a lever steerer, a propulsion engine control console, and other standard bridge equipment. For cargo handling it was originally thought that a single mast amidships serving No. 1 and No. 2 hatch would be satisfactory, but more rapid cargo handling was desired, leading to substituting masts at the forward end of No. 1 and after end of No. 2 hatches. The mainmast between the two hatches was then restored, allowing double ganging of both hatches. Five ton booms were fitted everywhere except at the forward end of No. 2 hatch where ten ton booms were stepped. A 30 ton heavy lift boom was also fitted at the forward end of No. 2 hatch. The refrigerated cargo was moved to a triangular shaped section at the forward end of the lower No. 1 hold because its original location in the aft No. 2 'tween deck could be more advantageously used for the carriage of dry cargo. On 20 August 1954 MSTS reported to CNO that design work and planning on the six ice-strengthened ships had progressed to the state where it was considered most desirable that they be assigned vessel type numbers, and CNO on 21 September 1954 authorized BUSHIPS to assign the hull numbers, nomenclature and classifications. On 14 October 1954 MARAD advised the Navy that it had assigned the designation C1-ME2-13a to the Small Navy Cargo Vessel (T-AK Class), Ice Strengthened, twin screw, diesel electric propulsion. BUSHIPS completed the contract plans and specifications for the three AKs at the end of December 1954 and then handed them over to MARAD to handle the contracting process. On 15 February 1955 the Navy completed arrangements with MARAD for the transfer of funds for construction of the ships. The design of T-AK 270 was released by BUSHIPS for construction on 16 March 1955 and Whittelsey completed their work on the design on 31 March 1955.
A contract for the construction of the three ships was awarded on 22 Sepember 1955 to Avondale Marine Ways. On 8 August 1956 the names of the northernmost stars ELTANIN, MIRFAK, and MIZAR were given to AK 270-272 respectively on the recommendation of an officer in MSTS. The three AKs were delivered between October 1957 and March 1958. In the meantime MSTS had given the C1-M-AV1 freighter PEMBINA (T-AK 200) some ice strengthening and used her in Arctic service in 1957-58. Back in 1946 two of PEMBINA's commissioned sisters, ALCONA (AK 157) and BELTRAMI (AK 162), had been modified for Arctic service to support construction activity during Operation NANOOK.
In 1958 the Distant Early Warning Line went into full operation. Support of the line shifted mostly to the Air Force and Canada, and by 1960 the DEW Line support responsibilities of MSTS were limited to Thule and Goose Bay. During 1961 and 1962, ELTANIN was modified at a New York shipyard to fill a new role as a seagoing Antarctic scientific research laboratory for the National Science Foundation with a helicopter deck aft, a weather balloon inflation shelter beneath it, extensive gear for meterological and upper atmosphere studies, devices to record and evaluate temperatures, currents depths, salinity and chemistry of water, geophysical instruments to study the earth's magnetic field and the earth's crust beneath the oceans, and special antennas designed for upper atmosphere physics. Anti-roll tanks were also added, along with protective bulwarks. On 23 August 1962 effective 15 November 1962 she was reclassified T-AGOR 8. She conducted a total of 52 Antarctic research cruises from 5 July 1962 thru 29 December 1972. In 1974 she was transferred to the Argentine Navy in a 5-year lease and renamed ISLAS ORCADAS. In 1978 she participated in an expedition in the Weddell Sea during which her crew discovered an igneous underwater formation baptized Virginia Range. At the end of the lease period she was returned to the US Navy in Norfolk, Virginia, on 1 August 1979.
MIRFAK remained a cargo ship specialized in polar operations. She was initially assigned to the Labrador-Greenland-Newfoundland run and then was shifted in 1962 (replacing an LST) to a military supply run between Seattle, Anchorage, and Adak, Alaska. In 1972 she repaired the petroleum delivery system at Goose Bay Air Base in Labrador, then delivered cargo for NSF research in Antarctica.
MIZAR made a single voyage to Antarctica in 1961. The loss of THRESHER (SSN-593) on 10 April 1963, and problems handling heavy search equipment over the side from JAMES M GILLESS (T-AGOR 4) drove the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) to look for for a larger ship than the usual oceanographic research type capable of being fitted with an inboard center well and resulted in the selection of MIZAR in late 1963. On 15 April 1964 CNO changed the class and hull number of USNS MIZAR from T-AK 272 to T-AGOR 11 effective 15 April 1964 and reverted the class and hull number of USNS LT JAMES E ROBINSON from T-AG 170 back to T-AK 274 effective 1 July 1964. (ROBINSON was originally T-AKV 3 and first became T-AK 274 in 1959.) A "moon pool" based on that in USS HUNTING (AG 398) with defects remedied was installed at NSY Philadelphia beginning in late 1965 to support a remotely operated "fish." A decade later, NRL was forced by increasing ship costs to choose between MIZAR and the newer HAYES (AGOR 16) and chose to retain HAYES. On 1 April 1975 the Naval Electronic Systems Command (NAVELEX), a major participant in Project CAESAR (the installation of SOSUS), informed MSC that it had a firm requirement for MIZAR and strongly desired to assume sponsorship of her as soon as possible after NRL completed removal of its equipment in July 1975. Also on 1 April 1975 NAVELEX informed MSC that after completion of removal of its equipment from FLYER (AG 178) it no longer had a requirement for that ship and recommended her disposal as soon as possible.
Ship Notes:
| AK | Name | MA | Notes |
| 270 | ELTANIN | 46 | FY 1955 (MSTS). Delivered 1 Oct 1957. To T-AGOR 8 15 Nov 1962. Loaned to Argentina 19 Feb 1974 as ISLAS ORCADAS. Returned 1 Aug 1979. Berthed temporarily in the navy reserve fleet at Portsmouth, Va., 1 Aug 79 pending NSF determination of plans for reactivation for polar programs. To MA custody in JRRF 21 Feb 1990. Title to MA 2 Jul 1990. Departed JRRF 18 Mar 1992 following scrap sale. |
| 271 | MIRFAK | 47 | FY 1955 (MSTS). Delivered 30 Dec 1957.To MA custody 11 Dec 1979. Title to MA 1 Jan 1995. BU completed 17 Jul 2003 by Marine Metals, Brownsville. |
| 272 | MIZAR | 48 | FY 1955 (MSTS). Delivered 7 Mar 1958. To T-AGOR 11 15 Apr 1964. To MA custody in JRRF 17 Jan 1990. Title to MA 17 Feb 1992. Replaced by WATERS (T-AGS 45). To scrapping facility 16 Aug 2005, BU completed 27 Feb 2006 by Bay Bridge Enterprises LLC of Chesapeake, VA. |
Page Notes:
Compiled: 7 Aug 2021
© Stephen S. Roberts, 2021
Special sources: NARA: RG 19 Entry P 62 boxes 25-26 and 28; RG 19 Entry P 52 box 121; Senate Appropriations Committee hearings on H.R.8873, 12 May 1954.