10 THE NAVY OCEAN SCIENCE PROGRAM 



extend from the arctic basin to the equator. The magnitude of 

 this effort is reflected in the levels of support provided to groups 

 intimately involved. The cost of supporting the research of an 

 investigator full-time in ocean science today is annually about 

 $60,000 to $75,000, including the support required for research 

 ships. The Navy laboratory ocean-science efforts, now centered 

 at 13 separate activities, range from single-man-year efforts to 

 programs in excess of $1,000,000 a year. These programs are 

 complemented by research being conducted by the academic 

 community. At present 18 academic and private institutions are 

 engaged in ocean-science research programs sponsored by the 

 Navy at levels in excess of $100,000 a year. At six of these 

 organizations the Navy support exceeds $500,000 a year, and at 

 another six, $1,000,000. As large as these programs and their 

 scientific scope may be, the Navy Ocean Science Program also 

 has enjoyed long-term associations, on much smaller scale efforts, 

 with many individual investigators in the academic community. 

 Industry, too, plays a vital role in the Navy Ocean Science Pro- 

 gram, mainly through the development of large equipments and 

 systems necessary to conduct research and, through subcon- 

 tracting, to carry out individual projects for the Navy labora- 

 tories, universities, and private institutions. In total, the Navy's 

 program involves the talents of Navy scientists, the academic 

 community, and industry. 



The fleet available to the Navy Ocean Science Program to 

 provide research platforms from which to conduct at-sea investi- 

 gations now numbers some 34 ships, ranging in size from con- 

 verted 65-foot T-boats for coastal investigations to the 10,000-ton 

 USNS MISSION CAPISTRANO, used for studies of underwater 

 acoustics in the North Atlantic Ocean. This fleet has evolved from 

 pre-World War II ships such as the auxiliary ketch ATLANTIS, 

 formerly of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, through 

 a series of converted hull configurations to two classes of new 

 construction, the AGOR-3 and AGOR-14 classes. Of the 34 ships 

 now in the program, the Navy owns 23. Of these, 16 are operated 

 by universities and private institutions, where they are used for 

 the Navy programs and also for other federally sponsored efforts. 



