USNS ''Hayes'' (T-AGOR-16/T-AG-195) was a ''Hayes''-class

oceanographic research ship Oceanography (), also known as oceanology and ocean science, is the scientific study of the oceans. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of topics, including ecosystem dynamics; ocean currents, waves, and geophysical fluid dynami ...

acquired by the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

in 1971. In 1992 she was reconfigured as an

acoustics Acoustics is a branch of physics that deals with the study of mechanical waves in gases, liquids, and solids including topics such as vibration, sound, ultrasound and infrasound. A scientist who works in the field of acoustics is an acoustician ...

research ship A research vessel (RV or R/V) is a ship or boat designed, modified, or equipped to carry out research at sea. Research vessels carry out a number of roles. Some of these roles can be combined into a single vessel but others require a dedicated ...

and assigned to the Navy's program of acoustic noise reduction for

submarines A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely o ...

Built at Seattle, Washington

''Hayes'' was built in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

, by

Todd Shipyards Todd or Todds may refer to: Places ;Australia: * Todd River, an ephemeral river ;United States: * Todd Valley, California, also known as Todd, an unincorporated community * Todd, Missouri, a ghost town * Todd, North Carolina, an unincorporated ...

, Corp., and was laid down on 12 November 1969 and launched on 2 July 1970. She was named after Dr. Harvey C. Hayes, a pioneer in underwater acoustics and the former head of the US Navy Sound Division of Naval Research Laboratory. She was delivered to the Navy 21 July 1971 and placed in service by the Military Sealift Command (MSC) as USNS ''Hayes'' (T-AGOR-16). After completing service with the MSC, she was placed into Ready Reserve 10 June 1983. In 1984 ''Hayes'' was laid up in the

National Defense Reserve Fleet The National Defense Reserve Fleet (NDRF) consists of ships of the United States of America, mostly merchant vessels, that have been "mothballed" but can be activated within 20 to 120 days to provide shipping during national military emergencies ...

, James River,

Fort Eustis, Virginia Fort Eustis is a United States Army installation in Newport News, Virginia. In 2010, it was combined with nearby Langley Air Force Base to form Joint Base Langley–Eustis. The post is the home to the United States Army Training and Doctrine ...

Conversion to acoustics research ship

''Hayes'' was reacquired by the Navy during

fiscal year A fiscal year (or financial year, or sometimes budget year) is used in government accounting, which varies between countries, and for budget purposes. It is also used for financial reporting by businesses and other organizations. Laws in many ...

1986 and was converted into an Acoustic Research Ship at

Tacoma Boatbuilding Company Tacoma Boatbuilding Company (sometimes Tacoma Boat) was a shipyard at 1840 Marine View Drive, Tacoma, Washington, in the United States. It was established in 1926 and closed in 1992. History Tacoma Boat was established in 1926 and built man ...

, Tacoma, Washington. MSC placed the ship back into service in 1992, this time as USNS ''Hayes'' (T-AG-195). Hayes was equipped in 1994 with one-of-a-kind sensor arrays, including three acoustic deploy-able buoys from each of which were suspended a custom designed seven hundred channel High Frequency Baffled Cylindrical Array designed and built by the Westinghouse Oceanic Division of Annapolis, MD; and a Low Frequency Array of vertical line arrays designed and constructed by SAIC of McLean, Virginia. Each buoy provided over 1500 acoustic channels of information that required extensive processing by two Cray IV computers also custom designed for the application. The arrays and computer created a fully steerable sensor suit that could isolate noise sources in the submarines and assist in determining the source of excessive noise emitted by the submarine. Submarines to be used for test and development, and to be quietened by engineers using the data from the Hayes, would pass submerged through the three buoy arrays in the deep waters off Andros Island, Bahamas.

History of operations

''Hayes'' was assigned to underwater acoustics research for the purpose of reducing the acoustic noise of underwater submarines. She was struck from the Naval Register in 2008 and laid up at the

Philadelphia Naval Shipyard The Philadelphia Naval Shipyard was an important naval shipyard of the United States for almost two centuries. Philadelphia's original navy yard, begun in 1776 on Front Street and Federal Street in what is now the Pennsport section of the ci ...

Note

There is no history of Hayes’ operations in

DANFS The ''Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships'' (''DANFS'') is the official reference work for the basic facts about ships used by the United States Navy. When the writing project was developed the parameters for this series were designed to ...

References

NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive - USNS Hayes (T-AG-195) – ex - USNS Hates (T-AGOR-16) (1971 - 1992)The USNS Hayes - A New Dimension in Ocean Research (part 1)The USNS Hayes - A New Dimension in Ocean Research (part 2)Naval Vessel Historical Evaluation - USNS Hayes - 2011
Ships built in Seattle 1970 ships Oceanographic research ships of the United States Navy Anti-submarine warfare Military catamarans {{US-mil-ship-stub

Built at Seattle, Washington

Conversion to acoustics research ship

History of operations

Note

See also

References