158 



OCEANOGRAPHY EN THE XTNITED STATES 

 Table n. Tonnage comparison of selected research ships. 



Fig. 16. The Royal Research Ship 

 DISCOVERY II, of the British National 

 Institute of Oceanography, leaving the 

 Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution 

 after a joint IGY cruise with the R. V. 

 ATLANTIS. Major characteristics are: 



Length 220 feet 



Beam 36 feet 



Depth 16 feet 



Displacement. . 1,736 tons 



Speed 13 knots 



Complement. . . 41 crew, 



9 scientists 



Our research fleet is not capable of obtaining 

 the information demanded by the first two reports. 

 The NOBSKA report carefully points out the need 

 for well-designed research ships. 



New construction is needed to meet the fol- 

 lowing requirements: 



a. The research ship must be quieted for 

 acoustic work. For acoustic experiments at 10 

 kc, the auxiliary equipment of the ship must be 

 at least as quiet as the ambient noise of a sea 

 state 1. 



b. The ship must have an efficient scientist- 

 to-crew ratio, or a ratio of about 1 to 1. 



c. The ship must be able to maintain head- 

 ing at very slow speeds; this requires a carefully 

 considered main propulsion plant, propellers, and 

 perhaps some type of bow propulsion. 



d. The ship must have adequate deck, labo- 

 ratory, office, berthing, messing, helicopter, and 

 sonar spaces. The need for a center well has not 

 been accepted by all oceanographers, but there 

 are many reasons why one should be included, 

 perhaps the most important of which is to allow 

 work in rough seas. 



e. The ship must be designed so that work 

 can be performed in a normal manner in a sea 

 state 5. It must be stabilized with antiroll tanks 

 and have the proper lines to minimize pitch. 



Plates I, II, and HI present an 1100-ton research ship which has been designed by the Bu- 

 reau of Ships with the assistance of the Ship Design Committee of the Office of Naval Research. 

 She is under Navy consideration as Ship's Characteristics' Board project No. 185. Her prin- 

 cipal characteristics are as follows: 



Length over-aU 200 feet 



Length between perpendicular 188 feet 



Beam, molded 37 feet 



