SHIPS OF OPPORTUNITY 



K 



L octANUGRAPHrc Data ceNTtk 



BATHYTHERMOGRAPH LOG 



By F. W. Fricker 



Maritime Safety Division 



U. S. Naval Oceanographic Office 



During the past year or more, a number of scientific and mari- 

 time-oriented news media have made repeated references to the term 

 "ships-of-opportunity". They were, of course, referring generally 

 to those instruments of a unique method being recently employed 

 by a number of agencies to conduct scientific research in the open 

 ocean; the ships of the merchant marine. 



The sudden surge of publicity in this regard was undoubtedly 

 stimulated by two recent incidertts which captured the imagination 

 of the scientific press, aroused the interest of marine scientists, and 

 attracted the attention of a segment, at least, of the U. S. Congress. 

 Early in 1965 the U. S. Naval Oceanographic Office revealed plans 

 to employ ships of commercial lines to gather oceanographic data, 

 and the Office of Naval Research announced the successful comple- 

 tion of their PROJECT NEPTUNE. Although the primary objec- 

 tives of the two projects were unrelated, the ships designated for 

 participation became unofficially, yet appropriately, known as "ships- 

 of-opportunity". 



The origin of this, perhaps unusual, sobriquet is obscure. It can, 

 however, be traced as far back as 1959 when additional ocean-going 

 platforms were sought to assist naval units in support of a project 

 the Navy calls ASWEPS (Antisubmarine Warfare Environmental 

 Prediction Services). The project involved the development of thermal 



structure forecasting techniques in support of antisubmarine warfare 

 operations, and was logically assigned to the Naval Oceanographic 

 Office. That Office initiated a reporting system which consisted of 

 a network of ships in the western North Atlantic Ocean. In addition 

 to the conventional survey ships, all properly equipped naval vessels 

 were directed to participate in the program. These units were later 

 joined by U. S. Coast Guard vessels and ships of the Canadian Navy. 



In order to increase the number of participating ships in the net- 

 work, the Military Sea Trarsportation Service (MSTS )was requested 

 to cooperate. That agency responded by making their large fleet 

 available for the purpose, and their worldwide operations permitted 

 a wide choice of platforms from which to fashion a more formidable 

 network. 



It is not clear to which category in this succession the title 

 became attached, but due to the limitations imposed by schedules, 

 routes, etc. of the latter group it can be surmised that MSTS ships 

 were the first to be called "ships-of-opportunity". 



The majority of the newcomers to the program were civilian- 

 manned. Some were, for all practical purposes, purely merchant 

 ships, being attached to the parent service by virtue of a charter. 

 It is not surprising, therefore, that today the term has come to mean 

 only those scheduled commercial and MSTS ships selected through 

 expediency to perform oceanographic research. This context was 

 further strengthened by the forementioned PROJECT NEPTUNE, 

 sponsored by the Office of Naval Research primarily to demonstrate 

 the feasibility of using merchant ships to collect biological samples 

 in the vast reaches of the oceans. 



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