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USNS Heezen delivers survey data (10/23)

The U.S. Military Sealift Command recently issued the following news release concerning the Seafarers-crewed USNS Bruce C. Heezen. The release, dated Oct. 20, also is available on MSC’s web site HERE Hydrographic survey data delivered to Vietnamese officials U.S. scientists from oceanographic survey ship USNS Bruce C. Heezen (T-AGS 64) handed a hydrographic survey chart over to their Vietnamese counterparts, Oct. 19. Heezen got underway this morning, wrapping up a highly-successful port call to Da Nang. The chart, showing a detailed image of the seabed near Da Nang's harbor, was produced when eight Vietnamese hydrogaphers embarked Heezen's Hydrographic Survey Launch (HSL) for a hands-on demonstration. HSL 912, a 34-ft., 15,000 lb. watercraft was slowly lowered into Da Nang's murky waters by Heezen's onboard cranes. The small craft, which resembles a commercial yacht and is used to survey shallow waters, traveled three miles from shore to an area where an obstruction was reported near Da Nang's harbor. The survey location was agreed upon by both U.S. and Vietnamese navies. Once close to the reported obstruction, HSL outlined the survey area by traveling in a straight line in three different directions. The ship's onboard computers then connected the one-kilometer-long lines to form a navigational 'zone' for the HSL to survey. Fellow NAVOCEANO surveyor Neil Duffin then carefully placed HSL's side scan 'towfish' into the water – a sophistical sonar which creates a high-resolution acoustic image of the seabed. "It's like painting an undersea picture," Balser said. Next, the data was brought back to Heezen's laboratory where Vietnamese officials observed collected data on computers. Data was then printed on a poster-size chart and given to Dr. Le Cong Thanh, Deputy Director the Vietnamese Center for Hydrography and Meteorology – a department within the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. "We hope Heezen's visit is the first step towards increased cooperation in the future," Thanh said in a farewell address to the Heezen's embarked hydrographers and ship's crew. The previous day, Heezen hosted the hydrographers, along with representatives from the Vietnamese Navy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Science and Technology, aboard to observe the ship's onboard technical equipment. Tom Cuff, Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command's Pacific Theater Program Manager based in Singapore, also presented a brief on the Navy's oceanographic program and the ship's mission and capabilities. With its embarked team of oceanographers and hydrographers from the Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVOCEANO), Heezen, along with six other vessels from the Pathfinder class, conducts a wide range of survey operations covering the disciplines of physical oceanography, hydrography and bathymetry, acoustics, and geophysics. Heezen, making the first-ever port call by an oceanographic survey vessel to Vietnam, is operated by a crew of 26 merchant mariners under contract to Military Sealift Command. The vessel embarks up to 27 scientists from the Naval Oceanographic Office to perform oceanographic and hydrographic survey operations. ###