SNAME Chesapeake Section Meeting Hears Paper On SWATH Survey Ship

The Chesapeake Section of The Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers met recently to hear a paper entitled "SWATH AGS Deep Ocean Survey Ships," presented by H. David Kaysen of MAR, Incorporated. The evening began with a discussion of Marine Systems Committee activities by Edward M. MacCutcheon. Moderator Nat Kobitz of the Naval Sea Systems Command then introduced Mr. Kaysen for the main technical presentation.

The U.S. Navy currently uses auxiliary ships designated T-AGS, crewed by the Military Sealift Command, to survey the ocean floor for the Fleet Ballistic Missile Submarine Program. This is the Deep Ocean Survey (DOS) mission. The current ships are displacement monohull vessels. Two of these, the USNS Bowditch and the USNS Dutton, are scheduled for replacement, and a construction contract has been awarded for two new monohull ships.

The author's paper presented a discussion of the merits of the application of a Small Waterplane Area Twin Hull (SWATH) type ship to the DOS missions. A design comparison was presented, based on the Circular of Requirements (COR) issued by the Navy for the Bowditch/ Dutton replacements. The SWATH platform offers improved DOS mission performance compared with a monohull by reducing the motions experienced by the sensors in a seaway.

This would enable the SWATH AGS to operate in higher latitudes.

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