USNS ''Assertive'' (T-AGOS-9) was a ''Stalwart''-class Modified Tactical Auxiliary General

Ocean Surveillance Ship A spy ship or reconnaissance vessel is a dedicated ship intended to gather intelligence, usually by means of sophisticated electronic eavesdropping. In a wider sense, any ship intended to gather information could be considered a spy ship. Sp ...

of the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

NOAA The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA ) is an American scientific and regulatory agency charged with forecasting weather, monitoring oceanic and atmospheric conditions, charting the seas, conducting deep-sea exploratio ...

acquired ex-USNS ''Assertive'' from the

on 31 March 2004, intending to replace NOAA ''David Starr Jordan'' R444 after the ''Assertive'' underwent a conversion for research use to be completed by 2008. The planned NOAA conversion was never carried out because a study conducted by NOAA determined that building a new ship was more cost effective than converting the ''Assertive'' and on December 11, 2008 title was transferred from NOAA to

MARAD Marad (Sumerian: Marda, modern Tell Wannat es-Sadum or Tell as-Sadoum (also Wana-Sedoum), Iraq) was an ancient Near Eastern city. Marad was situated on the west bank of the then western branch of the Upper Euphrates River west of Nippur in moder ...

, then transferred on December 17, 2008 from MARAD to the Seattle Maritime Academy. The Seattle Maritime Academy intended to utilize the ship for 30-day at-sea training cruises during the summer months. During the rest of the year, the ''Assertive'' would be a dock side engineering laboratory. As of Summer 2009 the ''Assertive'' was off limits to students at SMA. Inspection by instructors and students shows that critical electrical systems are missing and shore power is limited to a section of the engine room. Sea birds have made a home in the bridge area. As of October 2012, the ''Assertive'' has been listed for sale.

References

* * Stalwart-class ocean surveillance ships Cold War auxiliary ships of the United States Ships built by Tacoma Boatbuilding Company 1986 ships {{US-mil-ship-stub