USNS Dutton (T-AGS-22) was an oceanographic survey ship for the United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

 from the late 1950s through the 1980s. She was launched as SS Tuskegee Victory in 1945, Maritime Commission hull number MCV 682, a type VC2-S-AP3 Victory ship

Victory ship

The Victory ship was a type of cargo ship produced in large numbers by North American shipyards during World War II to replace shipping losses caused by German submarines...

. In her U.S. Navy service, she was named after Captain Benjamin Dutton, Jr.

Benjamin Dutton, Jr.

Benjamin Dutton, Jr., was a United States Navy Captain, expert navigator and author.-Biography:Benjamin Dutton, Jr. was born in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, on 3 April 1883. He was appointed to the Naval Academy from the 26th District of Pennsylvania in 1901. He graduated in 1905 and was assigned...

, and was the second U.S. Navy ship named in his honor.

SS Tuskegee Victory

SS Tuskegee Victory was a Victory ship laid down on 16 February 1945 and delivered to the Maritime Commission on 8 May 1945. After seven years of commercial service, she was laid up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet

National Defense Reserve Fleet

The National Defense Reserve Fleet consists of "mothballed" ships, mostly merchant vessels, that can be activated within 20 to 120 days to provide shipping for the United States of America during national emergencies, either military or non-military, such as commercial shipping crises.The NDRF is...

 in 1952. Five years later she was acquired by the U.S. Navy, renamed Dutton, and converted to a oceanographic survey ship (AGS) at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard

Philadelphia Naval Shipyard

The Philadelphia Naval Business Center, formerly known as the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard and Philadelphia Navy Yard, was the first naval shipyard of the United States. The U.S. Navy reduced its activities there in the 1990s, and ended most of them on September 30, 1995...

 from 8 November 1957 to 16 November 1958.

USNS Dutton T-AGS-22

USNS Dutton T-AGS-22 was placed in service on 1 November 1958 and assigned to the Military Sea Transportation Service, manned by a civilian crew.

Dutton was operated by the U.S. Naval Oceanographic Office

Naval Oceanographic Office

The Naval Oceanographic Office , 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 all elements within the Department of Defense.Valued by maritime...

 for the U.S. Navy Office of Special Projects in support of the U.S. Navy Fleet Ballistic Missile Program. Three ships were converted for this purpose: Dutton, and identical sister ships, and . Dutton participated in the recovery effort of the 1966 Palomares B-52 crash from January through April 1966.

Attached aboard Dutton was a U.S. Navy Oceanographic Detachment, upgraded ca. May 1966 to an Oceanographic Unit, of approximately 3 officers and 22 enlisted personnel, mostly technicians. Varying numbers of civilian scientists and engineers managed survey operations, and maintained certain navigation and sonar equipment, usually about 12 oceanographers from the Naval Oceanographic Office, some personnel from the Naval Applied Sciences Laboratory (NASL, later NSSNF), and about 7 technical representatives from private corporations.

Dutton was taken out of service ca. 1989. Contract award by MARAD in September 2007 to All Star Metals Inc. for scrapping in Brownsville, TX with ship fully dismantled on 5 June 2008

External links

• Memorial web site for USNS Bowditch, USNS Dutton and USNS Michelson
• Navy Survey Ship (AGS) Designator Listing