USNS ''Silas Bent'' (T-AGS-26) was a ''Silas Bent'' class survey ship acquired by the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

in 1964 and delivered to the Military Sealift Command in 1965. ''Silas Bent'' spent her career in the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...

performing oceanographic surveys. The ship was equipped with the Oceanographic Data Acquisition System (ODAS) as were the later oceanographic survey ships and .

Construction

''Silas Bent'' (AGS-26), an oceanographic survey ship, was laid down in March 1964 by the American Shipbuilding Co. at Lorain, Ohio and launched on 16 May 1964 sponsored by sisters and granddaughters of Silas Bent, Miss Nancy M. McKinley and Mrs. Jeffrey R. Grandy. The ship was delivered to the

Military Sea Transportation Service Military Sealift Command (MSC) is an organization that controls the replenishment and military transport ships of the United States Navy. Military Sealift Command has the responsibility for providing sealift and ocean transportation for all US m ...

(now the Military Sealift Command) in July 1965.

Oceanographic survey operations

''Silas Bent''—the first of a new class of oceanographic survey ships—was manned by a Civil Service crew and operated by the Military Sealift Command as an integrated system for the gathering of vital oceanographic data in both underway and on-station modes. The data she collected was recorded in a form immediately usable by computers. She was under the technical control of the

Naval Oceanographic Office The Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVOCEANO), located at John C. Stennis Space Center in south Mississippi, comprises approximately 1,000 civilian, military and contract personnel responsible for providing oceanographic products and services to al ...

then located in Suitland, Maryland. The oceanographic survey ship completed her shakedown cruise during the winter of 1965 and 1966. The ship was assigned operations including the Navy's ASW/USW Oceanwide Survey Project supporting antisubmarine and undersea warfare weapons systems, primarily in the northern Pacific.

Survey examples

The ship completed the first full year of ASW/USW Oceanwide Survey Project, an effort to perform comprehensive surveys of strategic ocean areas, during fiscal year 1967. The first of the year was spent in the Atlantic with work in the

Labrador Sea The Labrador Sea (French: ''mer du Labrador'', Danish: ''Labradorhavet'') is an arm of the North Atlantic Ocean between the Labrador Peninsula and Greenland. The sea is flanked by continental shelves to the southwest, northwest, and northeast. It ...

followed by a search for the reported American Scout Seamount. The June 1966 survey found no evidence of a seamount with no soundings less than but did find strong returns from the

Deep Scattering Layer The deep scattering layer, sometimes referred to as the sound scattering layer, is a layer in the ocean consisting of a variety of marine animals. It was discovered through the use of sonar, as ships found a layer that scattered the sound and w ...

that could be mistaken for shoals. Following additional surveys in the

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and north of

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the ship was transferred to the Pacific in December 1966. The remainder of the fiscal year was spent surveying north of Hawaii into the

Gulf of Alaska The Gulf of Alaska (Tlingit: ''Yéil T'ooch’'') is an arm of the Pacific Ocean defined by the curve of the southern coast of Alaska, stretching from the Alaska Peninsula and Kodiak Island in the west to the Alexander Archipelago in the east ...

. On 8 August 1968 ''Silas Bent'' departed Hakodate, Japan for surveys east of

Kamchatka The Kamchatka Peninsula (russian: полуостров Камчатка, Poluostrov Kamchatka, ) is a peninsula in the Russian Far East, with an area of about . The Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Okhotsk make up the peninsula's eastern and west ...

but was diverted on 12 August to an area south of

Amchitka Island Amchitka (; ale, Amchixtax̂; russian: Амчитка) is a volcanic, tectonically unstable and uninhabited island in the Rat Islands group of the Aleutian Islands in southwest Alaska. It is part of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Re ...

, Alaska to assist in the search, termed CHASE VI SALVOPS, for the

Liberty ship Liberty ships were a class of cargo ship built in the United States during World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding Program. Though British in concept, the design was adopted by the United States for its simple, low-cost construction. Ma ...

''Robert L. Stevenson'' which was to be scuttled with a load of ammunition but failed to immediately sink and sunk in an unknown position. After six days on station the survey ship located the lost ship using a deep towed magnetometer and narrow beam

echosounder Echo sounding or depth sounding is the use of sonar for ranging, normally to determine the depth of water (bathymetry). It involves transmitting acoustic waves into water and recording the time interval between emission and return of a pulse; ...

with confirmation by photographs using a deep sea camera. After the search the ship returned to Japan for regular survey operations with a limited survey in the Sea of Okhotsk before transit to San Francisco arriving 30 October. On departure from San Francisco to

Sasebo is a core city located in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. It is also the second largest city in Nagasaki Prefecture, after its capital, Nagasaki. On 1 June 2019, the city had an estimated population of 247,739 and a population density of 581 persons p ...

, Japan between 15 and 28 March 1968 the ship conducted underway transit data and planted current meter and thermister array buoys in the

Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, i ...

. From 11 April to 14 May the ship conducted joint acoustic operations with the RV ''F. V. Hunt'' which was also assigned work for the ASW/USW Surveys Project. The two ships continued operations in the Sea of Japan and Sea of Okhotsk into June 1968. In 1972, she visited Japan, for the 2nd annual Ocean Development Conference held at

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

. During the conference, there were numerous tours and briefings held on ''Silas Bent'' describing, for the ocean scientists of the world, her capabilities for measuring

bathymetric Bathymetry (; ) is the study of underwater depth of ocean floors (''seabed topography''), lake floors, or river floors. In other words, bathymetry is the underwater equivalent to hypsometry or topography. The first recorded evidence of water d ...

depth, magnetic intensity, gravity, surface temperature, seismic reflection, sound velocity, ambient light, and salinity. As of mid-September 1974, ''Silas Bent'' engaged in special operations in the area of

Kodiak, Alaska Kodiak ( Alutiiq: , russian: Кадьяк), formerly Paul's Harbor, is the main city and one of seven communities on Kodiak Island in Kodiak Island Borough, Alaska. All commercial transportation between the island's communities and the outside ...

. The ship conducted surveys for about a month in the Sea of Okhotsk beginning on 25 September 1986. USNS ''Silas Bent'' was transferred under the Security Assistance Program to the Republic of Turkey 29 September 1999 and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 28 October 1999.

Turkish service

As TCG ''Çeșme'' (A-599) the ship continued work as a hydrographic and oceanographic survey ship and was joined by sister ship USNS ''Elisha Kent Kane'' (T-AGS-27) which was renamed ''Çandarli'' (A-588).

Honors and awards

Qualified ''Silas Bent'' personnel were eligible for the following: *

Navy Battle "E" Ribbon The Navy "E" Ribbon or Battle Efficiency Ribbon (informally the Battle "E" ribbon) was authorized on March 31, 1976, by Secretary of the Navy J. William Middendorf as a unit award for battle efficiency competition. The service ribbon replaced th ...

National Defense Service Medal The National Defense Service Medal (NDSM) is a service award of the United States Armed Forces established by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1953. It is awarded to every member of the US Armed Forces who has served during any one of four ...

Construction

Oceanographic survey operations

Survey examples

Turkish service

Honors and awards

References

See also