- Constructed at Jacksonville, Florida
- Assigned to Columbia University
- Searching for the Thresher
- Inactivation
- See also
- References
- External links
{{short description|Oceanographic research ship that served the U.S. Navy from 1962 to 1989}}{{more footnotes|date=January 2009}}{{Infobox ship image| Ship image=USNS Robert D. Conrad (T-AGOR-3).jpg | Ship caption=
}}{{Infobox ship career | Hide header= | Ship country=United States | 1945}} | Ship name= USNS Robert Dexter Conrad | Ship namesake= Robert Dexter Conrad, graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, born on 20 March 1905 in Orange, Massachusetts | Ship owner= | Ship operator= | Ship registry= | Ship route= | Ship ordered= | Ship awarded= | Ship builder= Gibbs Systems Inc., Jacksonville, Florida | Ship original cost= | Ship yard number= | Ship way number= | Ship laid down= 19 January 1961 | Ship launched= 26 May 1962 | Ship sponsor= Mrs. Edmund B. Taylor | Ship christened= | Ship completed= | Ship acquired= by the U.S. Navy, 29 November 1962 | Ship commissioned= | Ship recommissioned= | Ship decommissioned= | Ship maiden voyage= | Ship in service= circa 1962, as USNS Robert D. Conrad (T-AGOR-3) | Ship out of service= circa 1989 | Ship renamed= | Ship reclassified= | Ship refit= | Ship struck= 4 October 1989 | Ship reinstated= | Ship homeport= | 7742140}} | Ship motto= | Ship nickname= | Ship honours= | Ship honors= | Ship captured= | Ship fate= scrapped, 27 April 2004 | Ship status= | Ship notes= | Ship badge=
}}{{Infobox ship characteristics | Hide header= | Header caption= | Ship class= | Ship type= Robert D. Conrad-class oceanographic research ship | Ship tonnage= 1,200 tons | Ship displacement= | Ship tons burthen= 1,370 tons | Ship length= 209' | Ship beam= 40' | Ship height= | Ship draught= | Ship draft= 16' | Ship depth= | Ship hold depth= | Ship decks= | Ship deck clearance= | Ship ramps= | Ship ice class= | Ship power= | Ship propulsion= diesel-electric, single propeller, 2,500shp, retractable azimuth-correcting bow thruster | Ship sail plan= | Ship speed= 12 knots | Ship range= | Ship endurance= | Ship test depth= | Ship boats= | Ship capacity= | Ship troops= | Ship complement= 23 civilian mariners, 38 scientists | Ship crew= | Ship time to activate= | Ship sensors= | Ship EW= | Ship armament= none | Ship armour= | Ship armor= | Ship aircraft= | Ship aircraft facilities= | Ship notes=
}} | USNS Robert D. Conrad (T-AGOR-3) was a Robert D. Conrad-class oceanographic research ship that served the U.S. Navy from 1962 to 1989. During that period – while operated by Columbia University—she provided valuable ocean-bottom information and underwater test data to the U.S. Navy and other U.S. agencies. Constructed at Jacksonville, FloridaRobert D. Conrad (AGOR-3) was laid down in January 1961 by Gibbs Shipyards, Inc., Jacksonville, Florida; launched on 26 May 1962; sponsored by Mrs. Edmund B. Taylor; and completed and delivered to the Navy in November 1962. Assigned to Columbia University After delivery, the single screw, diesel-electric, oceanographic research ship, Robert D. Conrad, was assigned to the Lamont Geological Observatory, Columbia University, for operation. Complete with wet and dry laboratories, scientific and chart room, photo laboratory, scientific drafting room, a machine shop, two 24" diameter tubes along the centerline for lowering instruments, and a retractable propeller in the bow to maintain position while working with equipment over the side, Robert D. Conrad worked for the Observatory (renamed the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in 1993) for her entire career. Searching for the Thresher Much of her work has been in cooperation with the Office of Naval Research and, during the spring and summer of 1963, Submarine Development Group 2 as that group searched the ocean floor for traces of the submarine {{USS|Thresher|SSN-593|2}}. The ship collected gravity and magnetics data on the seafloor; created seismic images of rock layers below the ocean floor; dredged rock samples; took ocean-floor sediment cores (creating what is now a collection of over 13,000 cores); mapped the ocean floor with sonar; and collected water samples to explore ocean currents, temperature, salinity, marine life and other data for a wide range of oceanographic research. InactivationRobert D. Conrad went out of service and was struck from the Navy List on 4 October 1989. The old research ship was disposed of through scrapping 27 April 2004. See also - United States Navy
- {{cite book |last=McElroy |first=William |last2= |first2= |last3= |first3= |last4= |first4= |year= | |date= |title=Pioneers of Oceanography: Saga of the Robert D. Conrad |series= |volume= |location= |publisher=Kindle |isbn= |lccn= |page= |url=https://www.amazon.com/Pioneers-Oceanography-Saga-Robert-Conrad-ebook/dp/B075YDXZNS |accessdate=14 November 2018}}
References- {{DANFS|https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/r/robert-d-conrad.html}}
- NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive - T-AGOR-3 Robert D. Conrad
- Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory history
External links- Robert D. Conrad (1962–1989)
{{Robert D. Conrad class oceanographic research ships}}{{DEFAULTSORT:Robert D. Conrad}} 6 : Robert D. Conrad-class oceanographic research ships|Ships built in Jacksonville, Florida|1962 ships|United States Naval Academy|Columbia University|Oceanographic instrumentation |