Page 18: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (December 1989)

OUTSTANDING OCEANGOING SHIPS OF 1989

It was an excellent year for inno- vative design in world shipbuilding, and this is reflected by the ships selected as MARITIME REPORT-

ER'S "Outstanding Oceangoing

Ships of 1989." Members of this select group feature superior de- signs, sophisticated equipment and unique machinery, while offering noteworthy performances and ver- satile characteristics.

ADVENTUROUS

Halter Marine

Halter Marine Inc., a member yard of the Trinity Marine Group, delivered the USNS Adventurous, the first of six identical T-AGOS ocean surveillance ships being con- structed under a Navy contract with a value of approximately $85 mil- lion.

The Adventurous (T-AGOS-13) is the 11th of 18 planned monohull

T-AGOS-class ships to join the

Navy's ocean surveillance program.

Operated by the Military Sealift

Command (MSC) and manned by

Photos: (Clockwise from top left): The rail ferry Robin Hood (Schichau Seebeckwerft); the tanker Iron Gippsland (IHI); the liner

Oceanic Grace (NKK); and the tanker Nep- tune (HHI). 20 civilian technicians, the Adventur- ous monitors the movement of sub- marines by deploying towed linear arrays of hydrophones known as the

Surveillance Towed Array Sonar

System (SURTASS).

The SURTASS system is com- prised of flexible, neutrally buoyant cable containing a large number of passive microphones, each tuned to specific frequencies enabling identi- fication of noises made by subma- rines many miles away.

The data is processed and trans- mitted to shore via satellite, where it supplements information from seabed arrays.

The all-steel Adventurous is 224 feet long, with a 43-foot beam, and 15-foot 1-inch draft. Main propul- sion and other ship's service are die- sel-electric, provided by four Cater- pillar-Kato 600-kw diesel generators driving two General Electric motors.

Power is transmitted through two shafts and full load displacement is approximately 2,300 long tons.

Maximum speed is approximately 11 knots and normal operating speed is about three knots.

USNS ADVENTUROUS

Equipment List

Main engines(2) GE

Propellers Matsui/Nakashima

Thrusters Schottel

Thruster Motor GE

Generator engines(4) Caterpillar

Generators(4) KATO

Engine controls GE

Steering controls Sperry

VHF radios ITT Mackay

Radar Raytheon

Compass Baker Lyman

Loran Micrologic

Autopilot Sperry

Pumps Aurora/Carver/Delaval

Towed array winch Appleton Marine

BONN EXPRESS

HDW

West German shipbuilder Ho- waldtswerke-Deutsche Werft Ak- tiengesellschaft (HDW) delivered the new generation 2,291-TEU con- tainership Bonn Express to ship- owner Hapag-Lloyd.

Based on research and experience results from the "Ship of the Fu- ture" program, the Bonn Express along with her sister the Heidelberg

Express equipped with some of the most modern ship operation centers in the world.

For the first time, a ship opera- tion officer equally trained in nau- tics and technology is on duty, and this allows the owner to make op- timal use of a first rate ship opera- tion technique reducing the number of crew to 14.

Direct connection between the ship's and the owner's center in

Hamburg is established by world- wide satellite communications. This enables direct transfer of ship data and cargo details.

The concept of ship management and ship operation is based on the concentration of all supervising and control functions into only two main working areas: the ship operation center (SOC) and the board man-