76 



OCEAN SCIENCES AND NATIONAL SECURITY 



Table 8. — Oceanographic ships — Continued 

 D. RESOURCES AND FISHERIES SHIPS 



' To be replaced within 10 years. 



» Source: Information furnished by Office of Naval Research and Navy Ofl3ce of Legislative Affaks- 

 all other items extracted from NASCO report, Ch. 6, table 8. <=& >■ e ^udua, 



3 In service by end of 1959. 



Table 9. — New oceanographic ships, currently funded 



' Contract for design placed with Bethlehem Shipbuilding Co., Quincy, Mass 



2 Contract placed May 26, 19G0, with Gibbs ShipbuUding Corp., Jacksonville, Fla., for $2,876,975. 



Source: U.S. Xavy, 



Two elements of oceanographic research related to ships themselves 

 bear special mention— the relatively large capital costs of facilities 

 to conduct oceanographic research and the present state of the U.S. 

 fleet in terms of obsolescence and the heavy use of converted hulls. 



Oceanography, like a number of contemporary scientific fields such 

 as research in outer space, requires an unusually massive investment in 

 facilities. Amortization of capital expenditures and operating costs 

 may equal or even exceed direct expenses associated \\ith the conduct 

 of research itself. As a matter of fact, projected plans for U.S. 

 oceanographic research for the next 10 years include exceedingly 

 heavy demands of funds for nev/ ships. The question might easily^be 

 raised as to whether the present fleet is inadequate. Table 8 reveals 

 that, except for C. & G. S. Surveyor, virtually all of the ships now en- 

 gaged in oceanographic research were constructed prior to 1945 and 

 the average age of these vessels is 18 years. By almost any standards, 

 many of these ships are now or soon will be overage. Only one of 

 the entire fleet was specifically designed for oceanographic research. 



Thus this fleet is characterized by being not only old but made up 

 primarily of conversions. Whether they can efi'ectively serve a func- 

 tion different from that intended can best be judged from a set of 

 basic requii-ements evolved by those professionally associated with the 



