USNS Thomas Washington
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{{Infobox ship image |Ship image=300px |Ship caption= }} {{Infobox ship career |Ship country=United States |Ship flag={{USN flag|1945}} |Ship name=Thomas Washington |Ship namesake=Admiral Thomas Washington |Ship owner=United States Navy |Ship operator=Scripps Institute of Oceanography |Ship registry= |Ship route= |Ship ordered= |Ship awarded= |Ship builder= Marinette Marine Corp., Marinette, Wisconsin |Ship original cost= |Ship yard number= |Ship way number= |Ship laid down=12 September 1963 |Ship launched=1 August 1964 |Ship sponsor=Misses Barbara E. and Ann H. Washington, granddaughters of Admiral Washington |Ship christened= |Ship completed= |Ship acquired=17 September 1965 |Ship commissioned= |Ship recommissioned= |Ship decommissioned= |Ship maiden voyage= |Ship in service=Assigned to and operated by the Scripps Institute of Oceanography. |Ship out of service= |Ship renamed= |Ship reclassified= |Ship refit= |Ship struck=1 August 1992 |Ship fate=Transferred to Chile 22 September 1992 and renamed Vidal Gormaz (AGOR 60). }} {{Infobox ship image |Ship image=File:BUQUE OCEANOGRAFICO VIDAL GORMAZ-AGOR-60.JPG |Ship caption=Vidal Gormaz (AGOR 60) }} {{Infobox ship career |Ship country=Chile |Ship flag={{shipboxflag|Chile|naval}} |Ship name=Vidal Gormaz (AGOR-60) |Ship namesake=Commodore Francisco Vidal Gormaz (1837 - 1907) |Ship acquired= |Ship commissioned=28 September 1992 |Ship decommissioned=30 August 2010 |Ship identification=*{{IMO Number|7742164}} |Ship struck= |Ship fate= Scrapped in Puerto Montt Bay, Chile 2012. }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship class= |Ship type= Robert D. Conrad-class oceanographic research ship |Ship tonnage={{GRT|1151}} |Ship displacement=1,490 |Ship length={{cvt|209|ft|m|1|abbr=on}} |Ship beam={{cvt|39.5|ft|m|1|abbr=on}} |Ship height= |Ship draught= |Ship draft={{cvt|16.7|ft|m|1|abbr=on}} |Ship depth= |Ship hold depth= |Ship decks= |Ship deck clearance= |Ship ramps= |Ship ice class= |Ship power= |Ship propulsion=Diesel-electric, single propeller, 2,500shp, retractable, trainable, 360 degree bow thruster |Ship sail plan= |Ship speed={{cvt|10|knots|mph km/h}} cruise, {{cvt|11.5|knots|mph km/h}} maximum |Ship range={{cvt|8200|nmi| mi km}} at cruising speed |Ship endurance= |Ship test depth= |Ship boats= |Ship capacity= |Ship troops= |Ship complement=22 scientific complement |Ship crew=8 officers, 15 men |Ship time to activate= |Ship sensors= |Ship EW= |Ship notes= }} |
Thomas Washington (T-AGOR-10) was a Robert D. Conrad-class oceanographic research ship delivered to the U.S. Navy in 1965. The ship was owned by the Navy but assigned to the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, University of California, La Jolla, California and operated as R/VThomas Washington from delivery to inactivation.The ship was part of the national academic research fleet and unlike the Navy operated ships of the type was not commonly referred to as a U.S. Naval Ship (USNS).
In September 1992 the ship was sold to Chile and operated by the Chilean Navy as Vidal Gormaz until decommissioned in August 2010 and broken up in 2012.
Construction
Thomas Washington was laid down on 12 September 1963 at Marinette, Wisconsin, by the Marinette Marine Corp.; launched on 1 August 1964; sponsored jointly by Misses Barbara E. and Ann H. Washington, granddaughters of Admiral Thomas Washington; and delivered to the Navy on 17 September 1965.{{cite DANFS |url=https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/t/thomas-washington.html |title=Thomas Washington |author=Naval History And Heritage Command |date=28 September 2015 |work=Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships |publisher=Naval History And Heritage Command |access-date=10 September 2019}}
The ship was {{cvt|209|ft|m|1|abbr=on}} length overall, {{cvt|39.5|ft|m|1|abbr=on}} beam, {{cvt|16.7|ft|m|1|abbr=on}} draft, {{GRT|1151}} with a displacement tonnage of 1,490. The diesel-electric engine drove a single propeller for a cruising speed of {{cvt|10|knots|mph km/h}} and a maximum speed of {{cvt|11.5|knots|mph km/h}}. With a capacity of {{convert|66000|gal|L}} of diesel oil the ship had a range of {{cvt|8200|nmi| mi km}} at cruising speed. In addition to the main engine the ship had a retractable, trainable, 360 degree bow thruster. The ship was operated with eight officers and fifteen crew with a scientific complement of twenty-two.{{cite report |title=National Oceanographic Fleet Platform Characteristics |publisher=Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVOCEANO) |date=January 1992 |pages=93=96 |url=https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a246452.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220601080100/https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a246452.pdf |url-status=live |archive-date=June 1, 2022 |access-date=10 September 2019}}
In addition to a wet laboratory and a dry laboratory the ship had the capability to accommodate two {{cvt|8|ft|m|1|abbr=on}} by {{cvt|8|ft|m|1|abbr=on}} by {{cvt|20|ft|m|1|abbr=on}} vans on deck for extra berthing or instruments. For equipment handling and operation there was an "A" frame of {{convert|10000|lb|kg}} capacity, crane with {{convert|16000|lb|kg}} capacity and three oceanographic/hydrographic winches.
In 1967 an IBM 1800 computer, the first of its kind installed in a research vessel, for data acquisition and control was installed allowing data processing at sea rather than after operations with land-based computers.{{cite web |title=A computer will go to sea aboard the Thomas Washington (photo & description) |publisher=Scripps Institution of Oceanography |date=28 June 1967 |url=https://library.ucsd.edu/dc/object/bb9318487k |access-date=10 September 2019}} By retirement Thomas Washington had been equipped with a Furuno shallow water sounding system and for deep sounding both EDO narrow beam and a SeaBeam swath system. The ship had a capability for seismic profiling.
Operation
The ship was assigned to the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, of the University of California as one of three such ships operated by academic institutions as parts of the national academic research fleet; the others being R/V Robert D. Conrad operated by the Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University and R/V Thomas G. Thompson operated by the University of Washington.{{cite report |title=Charting the Future for the National Academic Research Fleet |publisher=Federal Oceanographic Facilities Committee (FOFC) of the National Oceanographic Partnership Program (NOPP) |date=October 2001 |url=https://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/~dale/projects/FOFC/fleet_report_low.pdf |access-date=9 September 2019}} The Navy owned ships operated under the general control of the Oceanographer of the Navy, but were managed by the institutions, with civilian crews, conducting research experiments in support of the national oceanographic programs of the United States.
The ship's operation schedule for 1991, its last full operation year, shows the ship operated for a variety of purposes with numerous sponsors.{{cite web |title=Ship Operating Schedule 1991 |publisher=University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS) Office |date=2 January 1993 |url=https://www.unols.org/sites/default/files/washington_91.pdf |access-date=10 September 2019}}
Inactivation
Chilean service
The ship was sold to Chile for operation by the Chilean Navy, renamed Vidal Gormaz for the founder of the Chilean Hydrographic Office, Commodore Francisco Vidal Gormaz (1837 - 1907), and commissioned at San Diego, California on 28 September 1992. Vidal Gormaz arrived at Valparaíso on 3 December 1992. The vessel participated in such research operations as Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere, World Ocean Circulation Experiment, El Niño–Southern Oscillation and national Marine Scientific Research Voyages in National Fiords and Oceanic Islands and other Chilean scientific data collection.{{cite web |title=Scientific Ship Vidal Gormaz (II) |publisher=Armada de Chile |year=2009 |url=https://www.armada.cl/armada/history-of-the-navy/current-ships/v/scientific-ship-vidal-gormaz-ii/2014-02-19/132318.html |access-date=10 September 2019}}
The ship, designated AGOR-60, was decommissioned by the Chilean Navy on 30 August 2010. She was broken up at Chinquique, Puerto Montt in 2012.
Footnotes
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References
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- {{DANFS}}
External links
- [http://macdonald.faculty.geol.ucsb.edu/ScientificAmerican/sciam.html "The Mid-Ocean Ridge" — description in Scientific American of SeaBeam survey aboard Thomas Washington]
- [https://www.unols.org/what-unols/history-unols History of UNOLS]
{{Robert D. Conrad class oceanographic research ships}}
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Category:Robert D. Conrad-class oceanographic research ships
Category:University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System research vessels
Category:Ships built by Marinette Marine
Category:Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Category:Ships transferred from the United States Navy to the Chilean Navy