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duplication of effort. There is ample precedent for dispensing witli this, in the 

 case of at least two ships funded by government agencies. These ships are for the 

 use of individuals who for the most part are not located at oceanographic insti- 

 tutions. The funding for this operation is provided without the elaborate advance 

 justification required of the seagoing institutes, and is for the use of individuals 

 who do not. in general, have the seagoing training and experience of personnel 

 from such institutes. It seems logical to suppose that the full time established 

 oceanographic institutions should be given treatment at least as flexible as 

 that accorded to such individuals. 



A further problem arises when ship operations are funded by, not one, but 

 two or more agencies. In this case it is necessary to secure prior agreement 

 between the agencies as to their respective shares of the cost, an agreement 

 that is not always ea.sy to reach. 



At present the institutions in general do not have specific provision for pro- 

 viding ship time for the training of graduate students. This problem is partially 

 resolved by taking the students to sea as members of an experienced scientific 

 party, using ship time allocated to a funded project. It would be desirable if, 

 as in the case of EASTWIXD and TE VEGA, the long established seagoing 

 institutions could be allowed to justify part of their ship operations for specific 

 training cruises. 



12. Ship Replacements and Additions 



Although the research fleet presently operated by the oceanographic institu- 

 tions is superior to that prior to the last decade, the situation has become 

 marginal and in some cases critical. Thus far the institutions have had little 

 formal input into governmental plans for replacement schedules or for new 

 vessels. The continuous modification of ship construction schedules, and re- 

 assignment of research vessels, has prevented institutions from developing and 

 maintaining long term ship plans. 



The adequacy of the research fleet to perform the present program of research 

 varies from institution to institution. In general it may be said that the fleet is 

 inadequate for the program. In some institutions, however, the existing research 

 vessels are insuflScient to accomplish more than 50 percent of the planned 

 operations and are reaching the limit of their economically operated life. 



In addition to the shortage in numbers, much of the fleet is composed of 

 converted freight vessels not specifically designed for research purposes. Some 

 of these were only partially converted, on the assumption that they would only 

 be in use for a comparatively short period before replacement by new vessels. 

 This has further reduced the capability of the fleet, due to the increasing 

 frequency of maintenance shutdown. 



The present situation has been brought about by changes in scheduling the 

 new vessel program, including delays and re-assignments. The need for new 

 vessels a decade ago was in large part occasioned by expansion of oceanography 

 as well as by need to replace older vessels. Today the need for replacement 

 of older vessels has, in some cases, reached a state of emergency as these 

 conversions become increasingly older and costlier to keep in operation and 

 demand increasing time for yard maintenance. In contrast, some government 

 agencies have ships to spare and are offering use of their ships to individual 

 scientists. Design and operation problems are such that this does little to solve 

 our problem. The institutions urgently need new vessels toda.v primarily to 

 correct serious replacement requirements and to bring the fleet up to a reason- 

 able operating strength, without any consideration of future growth in research. 

 Rut it is also necessary to plan ahead for growth in research, no matter how 

 modest this may be. Since there is a considerable lag between government 

 approval and the stages of design, building and acceptance, it is considered 

 necessary to plan at least five years ahead. 



The government has not fully considered the needs of the institutions in plan- 

 ning new shipbuilding programs. This may be partly due to failure of the in- 

 stitutions to provide a comprehensive estimate of requirement. It is also due 

 to Jack of a strong central coordinating agency. In order to assist in future plan- 

 ning, COLD is preparing a preliminary list of ship requirements and will refine 

 and update this from time to time for the information of the government and 

 appropriate agencies. This indicates that, over the next 5 or 6 years there will 

 be requirements for 11 ships to replace existing ones and an additional 9 new 



