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USNS Indomitable (T AGOS 7)

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Laid down
  
26 January 1985

Construction started
  
26 January 1985

In service
  
1 December 1985

Launched
  
16 July 1985

USNS Indomitable (T-AGOS-7) httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediacommonsthu

Name
  
USNS Indomitable (T-AGOS-7)

Namesake
  
Indomitable Incapable of being subdued, overcome, or vanquished

Operator
  
Military Sealift Command

Acquired
  
26 November 1985 (delivered to U.S. Navy)

Builder
  
Tacoma Boatbuilding Company

USNS Indomitable (T-AGOS-7) was a United States Navy Stalwart class ocean surveillance ship in service from 1985 to 2002. From 2003 until 18 June 2014, she was in commission in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) as the oceanographic research ship NOAAS McArthur II (R 330).

Contents

Construction

Indomitable was laid down by the Tacoma Boatbuilding Company at Tacoma, Washington on 26 January 1985 and launched on 16 July 1985. 'She' was delivered to the U.S. Navy on 26 November 1985. 'She' was placed in non-commissioned service in the U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command on 1 December 1985 as USNS Indomitable (T-AGOS-7), a United States Naval Ship with a mixed crew of U.S. Navy personnel and civilian merchant mariners.

U.S. Navy service

Stalwart-class ships were designed to collect underwater acoustical data in support of Cold War anti-submarine warfare operations. Accordingly, Indomitable employed Surveillance Towed Array Sensor System (SURTASS) equipment on Cold War underwater surveillance duties during the final years of the Cold War.

After the Cold War ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union in late December 1991, requirements for such surveillance declined. In 1993, Indomitable's SURTASS gear was removed, and she received an AN/SPS-49 radar for use in counternarcotics surveillance. In her new role for counter narcotics patrol she deployed for two missions per year starting September 1993. As well as her civilian crew, she embarked 18 Navy personal to operate her sensors and coordinate with authorities. For her first five missions she averaged 300 days underway per year operating in the Caribbean Sea and Panama Canal area.

Due to her extended at Sea times, she operated a Civilian Ham Radio station from 1994-1995 for the crew to maintain contact with their families. Stateside operators freely cooperated making long distance calls for the grateful crew.

The Navy retired Indomitable from service on 2 December 2002 and struck her from the Naval Vessel Register the same day.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration service

On 9 December 2002, Indomitable was transferred to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). NOAA converted her into an oceanographic research ship. She was commissioned in the NOAA fleet as NOAAS McArthur II (R 330) on 20 May 2003, replacing the NOAA survey ship NOAAS McArthur (S 330), which was decommissioned the same day in a combined ceremony.

Capabilities

McArthur II has berthing for 38 people in 18 single staterooms, eight double staterooms, and one quadruple stateroom, providing her with the capacity to carry up to 15 scientists on domestic voyages or up to 14 scientists and a United States Public Health Service officer on international voyages. She can seat 16 people at a time in her crew's mess.

McArthur II has a wet laboratory freezer, a dry laboratory freezer, and an oceanographic laboratory refrigerator. On deck, she has a 2.3-ton-capacity deck crane with a boom that extends to 46 feet (14 m), two oceanographic winches, a movable A-frame, and a movable J-frame. She carries one 24-foot (7.3 m) and one 21-foot (6.4 m) Zodiac rigid-hulled inflatable boats (RHIB).

Operations

McArthur II was an active member of the NOAA Pacific Fleet with her home port at Seattle, Washington. She departed Seattle on her maiden NOAA cruise on 1 June 2003. She conducted oceanographic research and assessments throughout the eastern Pacific Ocean, including along the United States West Coast - where she was involved in studies in several national marine sanctuaries - and the Pacific coast of Central America and South America. She engaged in measurements of chemical, meteorological, and biological sampling for several large-scale programs within NOAA, and the scientists who carry out research aboard her come from many divisions of NOAA, as well as other United States Government agencies, U.S. state government agencies, and academia.

McArthur II was retired by NOAA on 18 June 2014. She had been inactive since 2011.

References

USNS Indomitable (T-AGOS-7) Wikipedia