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T-AGOR 1 Josiah Williad Gibbs

The problems with the USS ALLEGHENY were made known to the Office of Naval Research, and Hudson received a sympathetic ear. The TENOC program for new oceanographic vessels had not been established and Hudson was encouraged to look for a possible conversion hull for a larger oceanographic vessel. After considerable search, the USS SAN CARLOS, an AVP or small seaplane tender was selected. This ship was 310 ft long with a 41-ft beam, a 2800-ton displacement, and a cruising speed of 15 knots.

The conversion of the ship was supervised by the Military Sea Transportation Service which eventually crewed the vessel. The firm of Designers & Planners in New York was selected for the preparation of preliminary plans and Mobile Ship Repair Corporation in Mobile, Alabama, performed the conversion. Hudson Laboratories developed the laboratory plans in conjunction with the design agent. Hudson Laboratories was concerned with MSTS operation of the vessel and it should be added that MSTS was as concerned about Hudson Laboratories, since this was the first research vessel that they had crewed. The MSTS-Hudson relationship turned out to be a regarding arrangement for both parties.

The initial conversion of the USNS J. W. GIBBS, T-AGOR-1 was initiated in 1958. Winch, ground tackle, wire rope methods were used in anchoring the 310 ft long USNS J. W. GIBBS, AGOR-1. A number of catenary curves covering ropes of various weights was included. Initially report, emphasis was placed on anchorings utilizing 5/8 in. diameter, extra improved plow steel wire rope with an independent wire rope core. Additional anchorings using this construction of rope, as well as later experiences covering anchorings on armored cable and 3 x 19 wire rope were developed by the industry.

The converted ship was named the USNS JOSIAH WILLIARD GIBBS (T-AGOR-1). At the time of her conversion, it appeared to many that she was too large a vessel. Researchers since learned that any vessel which is built and completely filled with equipment upon sailing is a vessel which will prove to be too small for future use. In this case, the GIBBS turned out to be an excellent seagoing vessel, capable of working in most weather and, in general, was limited by the fragility of the systems launched rather than by the seaworthiness of the vessel itself. The crew totaled 48 men and officers and provision was made for comfortably berthing a scientific party of 26 plus four emergency berths. The crew-scientific ratio represented a tremendous advance when contrasted with the USS ALLEGHENY.

The GIBBS was converted basically as a bare ship. A major electronics laboratory capable of holding over 20 electronic racks, a smaller laboratory which could handle six racks of equipment, a radio navigation laboratory, a mechanical engineering laboratory, a machine shop, various storage holds, data processing areas, a photo laboratory, etc., were provided. Because of the short notice involved, only one winch was procured for the ship. This was an existing winch driven by an experimental motor which had been developed for the Navy, but had not been utilized by them. A stern U-frame was built and installed by the conversion yard. The ship had a 20,000-lb, 30-ft long crane.

It took many years to equip this vessel with scientific handling gear. In 1959 ONR was approached with a set of specifications for a deep-sea winch. Scripps Institution was looking for a similar unit at this time. The Bureau of Ships let a contract for two similar traction type electro-hydraulic winches, which became the precursors of the standard deep coring and anchoring winches used aboard most of the new research and survey vessels in the fleet. This winch employed a traction unit which reduces the overboard tension (a maximum of 30,000 lb) to a nominal stowage tension of 1000 to 2000 lb. The rope was then stored on one of two stowage drums below decks at this reduced tension, thereby preventing the cutting in of rope turns and reducing abrasion. The larger stowage drum is capable of storing 32,000 ft of 5/8-in. diameter rope and the smaller drum 22,000 ft of the same rope. Although this winch required considerable debugging by Hudson Laboratories field personnel, it has proved to be the backbone of the handling gear complex.

Techniques for deep anchoring the GIBBS utilizing this winch were developed at Hudson Laboratories, and the ship was subsequently anchored successfully over 90 times in deep water. In many ways, deep anchoring revolutionized the acoustics work being carried out at the Laboratories. It was now possible to remain days or even weeks at anchor without use of propulsion equipment, utilizing shock cord hung generators for silent ship periods of operation while suspending listening arrays. Later deep-anchoring techniques utilized armored cables at the anchor end of which a subsurface buoyed vertical array was affixed, effectively divorcing these arrays from surface wave action and from ship noise.

Other auxiliary winches were added to the vessel as well as hydraulic A-frames, laboratory air conditioners, etc. Since funds for this equipment became available slowly, a good deal of the engineering construction and installation work was done by Hudson Laboratories personnel. The most modern communications equipment was installed aboard the GIBBS including single side-band radios. These were utilized by the scientific party, who maintain their own radio operations during experiments to communicate with other ships and shore stations as well ad the Laboratories in Dobbs Ferry and field stations. Radio telemetry equipment was installed for use with acoustic array system buoys, etc. Loran A, Loran C and Decca navigation were provided. A right-angle drive auxiliary propulsion unit was added to the GIBBS back aft for slow speed creep propulsion and to assist in maneuvering the vessel. The location of the unit was unfortunate. It would have been more effective installed near the bow, but the bow of this vessel is extremely fine and it would have been difficult to install this type propulsion unit far forward in the ship. Because of continuing leakage and other problems, this third propulsion unit was removed from the vessel.