USS Deer Island (YAG 62) Class

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USS Deer Island (YAG 62), probably in the Bahamas in 1975-1982.

RV Deer Island (later YAG 62), probably in the Bahamas while being operated by Litton in 1975-1982 before Navy acquisition.
Click on this photograph for links to larger images of this class.

Class: DEER ISLAND (YAG 62)
Design: Commercial
Displacement (tons): ca. 400t full load
Dimensions (feet): 120.1' oa, 112.9' x 27.75' x 6.75'
Armament: none
Accommodations: 20 civilian
Speed (kts.): 10.5
Propulsion (HP): 740
Machinery: 2 diesels, 2 screws

Construction:

YAG	Name	Acq	Builder	Keel	Launch	Svc
62	DEER ISLAND	15 Mar 1982	Halter Marine, New Orleans	--	1966	May 1982

Disposition:

YAG	Name	T	Inact	Strike	Disposal	Fate	MA Sale
62	DEER ISLAND		1995	6 Feb 1995	2 Aug 1996	Trf	--

Class Notes:
This small vessel was built by Halter Marine, New Orleans, La. (yard number 129) as the oil field supply vessel MV DEER ISLAND (ON 503425) and was delivered to Island Boats, Inc., New Orleans, La., in 1966. She was sold in 1970 to Marine Acoustical Services, Inc., Miami, Fla., evidently for acoustic work, and was renamed RV PAUL LANGEVIN II. In 1974 she was sold to Litton Systems, Inc, Biloxi, Miss., probably for work on Navy projects, and her name reverted to RV DEER ISLAND. Acquired by the Navy for service as an acoustic research ship in noise reduction trials, she was designated YAG 62 on 15 March 1983. Unlike MONOB I (YAG 61) she never had a name listed in the Naval Vessel Register, but her unofficial insignia displays the name DEER ISLAND. She was utilized by the Naval Surface Warfare Center and its predecessors at the Andros, AUTEC (Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center), and TOTO (Tongue of the Ocean) ranges in the Bahamas for submarine research. Her insignia (see it HERE) shows her lowering a sensor from her bow with a submarine beneath her and an ASW surface ship in the distance. MONOB I was employed in similar underwater sound programs.

DEER ISLAND was struck from the Naval Register on 6 February 1995 for foreign transfer and was transferred through the Security Assistance Program (SAP) to Mexico on 2 August 1996 at the same time as MONOB I. Initially renamed ARM RÍO HONDO (A-26), she was converted by Mexico to a survey ship and given the new pennant number H-08 in 1999. She was later renamed ARM HONDO (BI-06) as a survey vessel based at Coatzacoalcos.

Ship Notes:

YAG	Name	MA	Notes
62	DEER ISLAND		Ex M/V DEER ISLAND, acquired for acoustic research. Active May 1982. Trf. to Mexico 2 Aug 1996 as the Mexican Navy's RÍO HONDO. Renamed ZIMAPÁN 16 Nov 2022.