''Gyre'' (T-AGOR-21), best known as RV ''Gyre'', was the lead ship of her class of oceanographic research ships acquired by the U.S. Navy in 1973 for assignment to the University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS) fleet of Navy owned ships. ''Gyre'' was operated by the Texas A&M University School of Oceanography as part of the Navy owned UNOLS fleet until stricken 17 August 1992 and transferred to the university under a program transferring ships to states, schools and other public institutions. The university operated the ship until sale in December 2005.
''Gyre'' was purchased by TDI-Brooks International, Inc., flagged in Vanuatu, Port Vila and operated as a for hire research and survey vessel with particular suitability for undersea oil and gas related work.
length overall
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Length overall (LOA, o/a, o.a. or oa) is the maximum length of a vessel's hull measured parallel to the waterline. This length is important while docking the ship. It is the most commonly used way of expressing the size of a ship, an ...
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beam
Beam may refer to:
Streams of particles or energy
*Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy
**Laser beam
*Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles
**Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...
, draft, with a displacement tonnage of 946. The two shafts were driven by geared diesel engines for a cruising speed of , maximum speed of . ''Gyre'' had a hydraulic electric bow thruster. With a capacity of of diesel oil the ship had a range of at cruising speed and endurance of sixty days limited by food. The ship was operated with five officers and five crew with a scientific complement of twenty-three.
''Gyre'' had wet and dry laboratories with a capability to carry an instrument van on deck. For equipment handling and operation there were two "A" frames of capacity, two cranes with capacity and three oceanographic/hydrographic/trawl winches. Raytheon shallow and deep water sounding systems were installed and the ship had a capability for seismic profiling.
University assignment
''Gyre'' was leased to the Texas A&M University School of Oceanography as part of the University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS) fleet of Navy owned ships, based in Galveston operating with call sign KJCL. The ship had undergone modifications in 1980 and 1984 and then struck from Navy list in August 1992. The university acquired the vessel by transfer from the Navy and continued to operate ''Gyre'' as part of the UNOLS fleet with National Science Foundation (NSF) support for research. The vessel was sold in December 2005.
Operations
The university operated ''Gyre'' until 31 August 2005. At that time maintenance of an older ship and federal research budget cuts for research made operation uneconomical. The university was left without a ship capable of carrying twenty-three researchers and sustained voyages in the Western Gulf of Mexico. In 2005 ''Gyre'' only made nine cruises with 76 total days at sea compared to fifteen and 194 days at sea in 2000. The 2000 operations involved ten days in support of NSF requirements with the rest supporting state, Navy, Minerals Management Service (MMS), and other authorized federal and private projects. The MMS used ''Gyre'' as the research platform for The Deep Gulf of Mexico Benthos (DGoMB) project studying impact of oil and gas operations on the sea floor biota.
Commercial operation
''Gyre'' is currently operated by TDI-Brooks International, Inc., College Station, Texas, flagged in Vanuatu, Port Vila advertised for work out of Mexico, Northern South America and West Africa. ''Gyre'' is identified with IMO number 7318999, MMSI number 577275000, and call sign YJYX5 and noted as particularly well suited for oil and gas exploration and off shore production support. The ship now has four laboratory or work spaces and quarters for nine crew and twenty six technical staff.