340 OCEANOGRAPHY 1961 — PHASE 3 



It started at 170 feet. Then it went to 175 feet. Then it went to 195 

 feet with steam. I do not see essentially what the difference is. In 

 other words, the question is, if you can convert an existing vessel, why 

 should you have to build a new one ? That is the question. 



Dr. Wilson. The question in the case of the Vanderbilt vessel is it 

 was available to Stanford University on the basis of a gift. Woods 

 Hole had no one to give them a 172-foot vessel so they had to get a 

 new one. 



Mr. Batjer. Dr. Robertson testified : 



We looked very hard at the problem of converting existing ships. 



How hard did you look. Dr. Robertson ? Did you survey the avail- 

 able ships that are mothballed with the Maritime Administration, we 

 will say, the Navy, and so on? What is wrong with the AGOR's 

 that have been converted as far as oceanographic vessels ? 



Dr. Robertson. This whole matter has been examined by our ad- 

 visers, by the National Academy Committee. 



Mr. Bauer. Would you mind telling us who the advisers are ? 



Dr. Robertson. This has been discussed with the directors of the 

 oceanographic institutions, with the National Academy of Sciences 

 Committee on Oceanography, and with the Navy people, and the 

 general consensus is that for the large general-purpose oceanographic 

 ship of the type that Woods Hole is building, it is better and cheaper 

 to design your floating laboratory from the keel up. You get a better, 

 more effective, and more efficient ship, and this is the reason, as I 

 understand it, that the Navy has created a special class of oceano- 

 graphic research ships called the AGOR's, which will replace the con- 

 versions which they have been using and which are less efficient for 

 the purpose than these specially designed ships. 



Dr. Bolt. If I could add further to this, the business of looking 

 closely at the design of the vessel really means looking very closely at 

 the exact uses for which the vessel will be put. In the case of the bio- 

 logical oceanography ship, by and large, this is simply a platform 

 from which to gather specimens to make certain relevant measure- 

 ments about the environment from which the specimen came, and 

 perhaps to do something in the way of preserving or analyzing these 

 specimens. Some of the physical oceanography studies, measurements, 

 types of investigations, involve really very different things, and these 

 research needs have to be reflected in the design of the vessel. 



If I could give just one example so you will see how this ties down, 

 you mentioned that the Woods Hole ship increased in length and went 

 over to a steam plant. One of the very important physical tools in 

 oceanography is using sound waves for depth measurement and long- 

 distance communication, and a very important feature of a ship is 

 that it should be very quiet if you are going to use it to pick up weak 

 sound signals under the seas. When you look very carefully at the 

 problem of making an oceanographic vessel that is going to be really 

 useful for all types of physical underwater acoustic studies, you find 

 that the type of powerplant, such as steam, can be a critical matter 

 in the design in giving you the quietness that you need. I just 

 mention this as one of the kinds of ways in which some of the physical 

 oceanography uses can actually affect the basic hull design, the ma- 

 terials, shape, and powerplant, and everything to do with the vessel, 



