RV Horizon
Encyclopedia
The R/V Horizon, ex Auxiliary Fleet Tug , was a Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California, is one of the oldest and largest centers for ocean and earth science research, graduate training, and public service in the world...

 research vessel from 1949 through 1968. During that time she made 267 cruises and logging 610,522 miles spending 4,207 days at sea.http://content.cdlib.org/view?docId=kt238n98g2&doc.view=frames&chunk.id=d0e58&toc.depth=1&toc.id=&brand=calisphere | University of California: The Research Ship Horizon by Henry W. Menard

Navy service

The ATA-180 was launched 14 July 1944, commissioned 27 September 1944 and served in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater. She was laid up in the Pacific Reserve Fleet and struck from the Naval Register in 1948.

As a tug the ship had an obscure history, without an entry in the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships and only the bare facts of her construction and deployment. The only mention of ATA-180 on the Naval Historical and Heritage Command web pages is listing as part of Task Unit 1.2.7 (Salvage Unit) at Operation Crossroads
Operation Crossroads
Operation Crossroads was a series of nuclear weapon tests conducted by the United States at Bikini Atoll in mid-1946. It was the first test of a nuclear weapon after the Trinity nuclear test in July 1945...

.

The ship became notable in her second career as one of the trailblazing postwar oceanographic research vessels beginning with her conversion in 1949.

Research career and significance

The ship was notable in the early days of national oceanography following World War II when small converted vessels began multiple expeditions for educational institutions, often under Navy sponsorship. Henry W. Menard
Henry William Menard
Henry William Menard was an American geologist.-Life and career:He earned a B.S. and M.S. from the California Institute of Technology in 1942 and 1947, having served in the South Pacific during World War II as a photo interpreter. In 1949, he completed a Ph.D. in marine geology at Harvard University...

 notes "It is a rare senior oceanographer anywhere in the world who has not at least seen the ship" and compares her to the Soviet Vityaz and French Calypso active during the period.

Horizon made the first of Scripps' deep sea expeditions, a joint Scripps Institution of Oceanography-U.S. Navy effort in 1950 given the name Midpac, during which it was discovered that the sea floor was young. This discovery changed the conception that the sea floor was old and sediment filled and was an early lead to the current Plate Tectonics
Plate tectonics
Plate tectonics is a scientific theory that describes the large scale motions of Earth's lithosphere...

 theory

The ship's name is given to the Horizon Guyot
Guyot
A guyot , also known as a tablemount, is an isolated underwater volcanic mountain , with a flat top over 200 meters below the surface of the sea. The diameters of these flat summits can exceed ....

 (19°40' N 168°30' W), Horizon Deep (23°15.5' S 174°43.6' W), Horizon Channel (47°10' N 145°00' W), and the Horizon Bank (13°10' S 173°35' E). Horizon and Argo
USS Snatch (ARS-27)
USS Snatch , well known as Scripps R/V Argo after conversion to scientific research, was a Diver-class rescue and salvage ship commissioned by the U.S. Navy during World War II and in service from 11 December 1944 through 23 December 1946. Her task was to come to the aid of stricken vessels...

 discovered and explored the Horizon Ridge (14°55' S 105°52' E - 14°00' S 106°45' E) during the 1962 Lusiad Expedition, a part of the International Indian Ocean Expedition (IIOE).

External links

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