NATIONAL OCEANOGRAPHIC PROGRAM—1965 
605 
Chapter II 
OCEANOGRAPHIC RESOURCES 
Oceanographic resources consist of the capabili- 
ties needed to support the oceanographic effort: 
A. Ships; B. Instrumentation; C. Facilities; and 
D. Manpower and Training. 
A. Ships: $21,350,000 
For FY 1965, the ICO is recommending funding 
for construction of five new ships, for the outfitting 
of one other to provide a capability for oceanog- 
raphic work, and for design studies for a ship 
planned for future construction. 
The budget is down sharply from the shipbuild- 
ing budgets for FY 1963 and 1964; the drop in 
budget will have the effect of delaying the creation 
of a fully effective oceanographic observing pro- 
gram as outlined in the Ten Year Plan. The level 
has been chosen as the minimum building program 
needed to maintain the momentum in oceanog- 
raphic research developed in the last few years; 
that is, the minimum needed to replace obsolete 
ships and to keep research groups working at an 
effective and efficient pace. A listing of 100 oceanog- 
raphic survey/research ships is offered in the Ap- 
pendix. 
The various agencies contribute to the oveanog- 
raphic ship building program in the following way: 
Coast and Geodetic Survey: $9,000,000 
The C&GS will build one survey ship of approxi- 
mately 2,800 tons which will be largely self-sustain- 
ing in its operations and capable of carrying out 
hydrographic and oceanographic surveys anywhere 
in the world. It will have a wide range of data- 
collecting capability and will work primarily in 
support of the Ocean Survey Program. Capabilities 
for servicing oceanographic buoys and supporting 
deep research vehicles are being included in the 
design of this ship. 
Coast Guard: $50,000 
The CG will design an oceanographic ship to 
replace EVERGREEN in International Ice Patrol 
and other CG oceanographic research and surveys. 
This vessel, to be constructed with funds planned 
for FY 1966, will be ice strengthened and complete- 
ly equipped for oceanographic research in arctic 
and subarctic waters. 
Bureau of Commercial Fisheries: $1,700,000 
BCF will build a replacement for an exploratory 
fishing and oceanographic research vessel used in 
the tropical Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico. Funds 
are also being requested to equip a new ship (whose 
construction was funded in FY 1964) for high-sea 
salmon investigations and related oceanographic 
studies in the Bering Sea and the North Pacific. 
National Science Foundation: $1,500,000 
NSF must be responsive to scientific proposals 
received; its program, therefore, is not as firm as 
those of other agencies. NSF expects to provide 
about $1.5 Million for ships, for university and 
other private laboratories. It is estimated that this 
will include one small vessel for general oceanog- 
raphic research. 
Navy: $9,100,000 
Navy is requesting two ships to support the aims 
of the National Oceanographic Program. 
A 1,320 ton survey ship will be built to work 
with the larger vessels or carry out independent 
surveys and to assist in research projects in support 
of military requirements. This ship will replace 
the USS REQUISITE, a 23 year old converted mine 
sweeper, which is being decommissioned in early 
calendar year 1964. 
One of the Navy’s 1,350 ton oceanographic re- 
search ships will also be built for assignment to a 
private research institution, for use on research 
projects supporting Navy needs. ‘Three of the 
AGOR Class oceanographic research ships are now 
used by the Navy and by research institutions. The 
new AGOR will incorporate improvements gained 
in experience from the preceding three. Since none 
of these ships is in the FY 1964 shipbuilding pro- 
gram, the Navy is using this period to update the 
design and firm-up an improved “second genera- 
tion” of the class. This will be accomplished by 
utilizing the results of a complete canvass of both 
current and anticipated AGOR-users in order to 
ascertain experience and requirements data. 
B. Instrumentation: $9,110,000 
Oceanographic instrumentation remains a criti- 
cal factor in improving quality and increasing 
quantity of oceanographic data. Replacement of 
slow, manual handling methods for data collection; 
and the development of new, automatic, and rapid 
collection and computing methods is most promis- 
ing. Present instrument development is directed 
toward improving the accuracy, sensitivity, dura- 
