200 MARINE SCIENCE 
This ship is configured for the routine collection of oceanographic data; two 
modern deep sea hydrographic winches, Nansen bottles, reversing thermometers, 
an electric salinity bridge, GEK current meter and an air-conditioned laboratory 
comprise the basic outfit. The work primarily is physical oceanography but bio- 
logical, chemical, and meteorological studies have been conducted on a coopera- 
tive basis. The data collected by the Ice Patrol are subjected to the most rigid 
standards of quality control and are universally accepted and held in the highest 
repute. 
3. ACTIVITIES OF OCEAN STATION VESSELS RELATING TO OCEANOGRAPHIC RESEARCH 
Coast Guard Ocean Station vessels occupying six weather stations in the At- 
lantic and Pacific Oceans year round represent a research potential significant 
to even a casual observer. Since the establishment of the ocean stations on a 
peacetime footing in 1946, many oceanographic programs have been and are 
continuously being conducted. These include bathymetric surveys, drift bottle 
casts, sea and swell observations, plankton hauls, bird and seal surveys, 
bathythermograph observations, air and water samples. In June 1960, a scien- 
tist from Scripps Institution of Oceanography participated in a test oceano- 
graphic project on board USCGC Ponchartrain on ocean station November in the 
Pacific. The results were most promising. In July 1960, oceanographers from 
the U.S. Navy Hydrographic Office conducted special bathythermograph studies 
from USCGC Chincoteague on station Charlie in the Atlantic. Asa result, the 
Navy is considering a request for increased Coast Guard weather ship partici- 
pation in an oceanwide data reporting system. 
Despite the continuing productivity of the weather ships, the overall scope 
of research accomplished over the past 15 years doubtless is inadequate as 
viewed by the oceanographic community. Scientific investigations by Coast 
Guard ships are conducted on a cooperative basis with the cooperating agency 
initiating the request and providing the instrumentation. Further, such work 
must be accomplished at no cost to the Coast Guard whose statutory authority 
does not permit budgeting for oceanographic research except in direct support 
of the Ice Patrol. As a consequence, weather ships are not equipped with any 
instruments for research in the fields of oceanography except as occasionally 
provided by a cooperating agency. Navy owned bathythermographs are carried 
and utilized by ocean station vessels. 
4, PRESENT OR PAST ACTIVITIES OF COAST GUARD VESSELS 
Much of sections 1-3 has already discussed this aspect and this will serve to 
review and summarize the foregoing. 
The principal areas of Coast Guard accomplishment in the fields of oceanog- 
raphy have been in the course of the International Ice Patrol and the Bering 
Sea Patrol where under existing law, Coast Guard operations can be closely 
related to scientific investigations. The USCGC Marion expedition in 1928 con- 
ducted the first U.S. oceanographic surveys of the Atlantic Arctic. In 1937, 
the USCGC Chelan oceanographic cruise of the Bering and Chukchi Seas was 
the first such cruise into these waters. The present cruise of the Northwind con- 
tinues this role and in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean the Ice Patrol to date has 
occupied over 7,600 oceanographic stations since commencement of the program 
in 1914. Im 1959, Coast Guard vessels made over 24,191 bathythermograph 
readings and compiled 359,185 miles of bathymetric soundings for the Hydro- 
graphie Office. 
As a part of its law enforcement duties, Coast Guard ships have participated 
in pollution and radioactive waste disposal studies. 
Excluding the foregoing, the majority of the oceanographic research partici- 
pated in by the Coast Guard is under the authority of the general heading 
“Cooperation With Other Agencies” in the Coast Guard’s statutory mission. 
Accomplishments are long and varied. The more important ones have been 
included in the various sections of this report. 
5. LIGHTSHIP REPLACEMENT PROGRAM 
Present plans for the replacement of lightships with offshore towers call for 
the erection of two towers per year for from 7 to 9 years. Highteen of the pres- 
ent 24 light vessel locations are considered economical for replacement. The 
first of the towers is to be in Buzzards Bay, Mass., and is well along in the 
design stage. The tower is planned to be operational by summer 1961. 
