The Ocean Survey Vessel (OSV) ''Bold'' was operated by the

United States Environmental Protection Agency The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent agency of the United States government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it began operation on De ...

(EPA). Originally commissioned as the USNS ''Vigorous'', it was renamed USNS ''Bold'' (T-AGOS-12) and was a ''Stalwart''-class Auxiliary General Ocean Surveillance ship of the

Military Sealift Command The 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 U ...

of the United States Navy, as designated by the "T" preface to her AGOS classification.Ships and Aircraft of the U.S. Navy (various editions) published by U.S. Naval Institute, Annapolis, MD ''Stalwart''-class ships were originally designed to collect underwater acoustical data in support of

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

anti-submarine warfare Anti-submarine warfare (ASW, or in the older form A/S) is a branch of underwater warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, submarines, or other platforms, to find, track, and deter, damage, or destroy enemy submarines. Such operations ar ...

operations in the 1980s. The ship was transferred to the EPA on March 31, 2004. The ship is equipped with sidescan sonar, underwater video, water and sediment sampling instruments in study of ocean and coastline. One of the major missions of the ''Bold'' is to monitor sites where materials are dumped from dredging operations in U.S. ports for ecological impact. In 2013, the ''Bold'' was awarded to Seattle Central Community College (SCCC) by the General Services Administration. SCCC demonstrated in a competition that they would put it to the highest and best purpose, and acquired the ship at a cost of $5,000. However, by 2015 SCCC had failed to develop the plans for the ''Bold'' which they had pledged to the GSA to implement and as such GSA placed the ship for sale to the general public. By the middle of the year the ship was auctioned to an undisclosed party who moved the ship to Lake Union Drydock in Seattle for layberthing. The ship has since been placed for sale on eBay for $4M. ''Bold'' was converted to perform geophysical and geotechnical survey work in Singapore in 2020. In April 2020, it began operating as R/V Bold Explorer for EGS Survey. Image:USNS Bold (T-AGOS-12).jpg, USNS ''Bold'' (T-AGOS-12) at the

Washington Navy Yard The Washington Navy Yard (WNY) is a ceremonial and administrative center for the United States Navy, located in the federal national capital city of Washington, D.C. (federal District of Columbia). It is the oldest shore establishment / base of ...

File:Lake Union Drydock Company 06.jpg, ''Bold'' at Lake Union Drydock in 2015 20231225 mystery survey ship.jpg, ''Bold Explorer'' off Kauai, 25 December 2023

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Stalwart-class ocean surveillance ships Cold War auxiliary ships of the United States Ships built by Tacoma Boatbuilding Company 1989 ships Ships of the United States Environmental Protection Agency {{US-mil-ship-stub