• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

T-AGOR Allegheney

In the earliest days at Hudson Laboratories, sea work was accomplished aboard a chartered schooner, the BLUE DOLPHIN, and aboard gevernment vessels such as the Fish and Wildlife Service ship, GILL. Various minesweepers and other assorted craft were also used from time to time. These vessels were generally equipped with crude handling equipment, such as gypsies, booms and davits. This type of operation was satisfactory only in the orientation and training phase during the first year or two of operations at Hudson Laboratories. In time, a number of small boats became available on a permanent basis and were used in the Hudson River and Long Island Sound for recovery of air drop sonobuoys and for shallow water experiments. Several amphibious ducks were used to emplace listening instruments south of the Hudson field station at Fire Island.

In the sumer of 1952, the USS ALLEGHENY, a 143-ft long ATA, or seagoing tug, manned by a Navy crew became available to Hudson Laboratories. She had a 34-ft beam, 13-ft draft anA displaced 860 tons. The after deckhouse was extended to serve as a small laboratory and the diesel towing winch was reoriented to service the side of the vessel in conjunction with an A-frame and a trolley boom. A scientific service generator was installed below decks and portable shock cord suspended generators were installed for quiet ship service. A small overboarding crane was mounted on the fantail and a BT winch was provided. The ALLEGHENY was programed for continuous use by Hudson Laboratories, primarily in the Caribbean, off Bermuda, and along the east coast of the United States. A great variety of experiments were conducted from this vessel and fairly complex systems were launched from her, including many bottom-anchored, vertical listening arrays, with subsurface flotation.

Since the Laboratories devoted most of its effort to acoustic work, it was still necessary to utilize ships of opportunity in conjunction with the USS ALLEGHENY to carry out long-range acoustic experiments. it is always very difficult to eetablish a 3eagoing schedule based upon ships which are not under the operational control of the user laboratory. In time, a 65-ft steel-hulled Army transport boat, or T-Boat, was made a-;ailable to the Laboratories. This T-Boat, which was later named the R/V MANNING to honor an employee who was lost at sea on a small boat, was crewed by a three-man Hudson Laboratories crew. A maximum scientific party of nine zould be accommodated. Initially, it participated in an experiment in the Caribbean, but generally it was used up and down the east coast of the United States and Canada up to 100 miles offshore. The Laboratory was now able to conduct long-range acoustic experiments utilizing one ehip as a sound source ship and the other ship as a receiving vessel.

The limitations of the USS ALLEGHENY became apparent just a year or so after she was made available to the Laboratories. Although used exclusively as a research vessel, she was still considered to be an ATA by the Navy and we were not allowed to remove her large tripod and boom to improve her stability. Indeed, she was a critically stable vessel and we were limited as to the equipment that could be carried aboard her both by weight and moment consildrations, and because of the limited labcratory space. The Navy crew numbered 40, and accommodations were available for only four to six people in the scientific party. The experiments frequently required a greater number of people and, when embarked, they slept on cots or on matresses on the deck. In the early days of Hudson Laboratories, no sea-pay incentive was paid to seagoing personnel and only the most dedicated people volunteered for sea experiments on a regular basis, particuiarly when the accommodations were so primitive. The diesel towing winch was limited to a working load of 7500 lb and was slow snd difficult to control. The deck of the vessel was almost always awash.

A master plan was developea to improve the stability of the ship to provide additional scientific berthing and rack epace to improve the overboarding gear, and to increase the scientific power available. This required removal of the tripod and engine room equipment which was not required for the scientific mission. Since the ship was considered to be an ATA by the Navy and participated in annual maneuvers and training, these plans were not approved. It had occurred to petition the Navy to change the designation of the USS ALLEGHENY from an ATA to an AGOR, but this was not valuable to the Office of Naval Research for a fiscal reason. ONR was not funding the operation of the ship since it was under the operational control of the Third Naval District.

At any rate, the proposed alterations and removals would have cost a great deal of money. It appeared that this could be better spent on a more promising hull. The T-Boat, although a seaworthy vessel, was also quite weather limited since it tended to roll quite violently. Its hold was fitted out as a laboratory, but the vessel was effectively limited to coastal waters and was equipped with minimal handling gear.