USNS Mizar (T-AGOR-11)

USNS "Mizar" (MA-48/T-AGOR-11/T-AK-272) was a vessel of the United States Navy. She was named after the star, Mizar.

"Mizar" was built as a small ice-strengthened cargo ship of the "Eltanin" class on a Maritime Administration type (C1-ME2-13a) hull, by Avondale Marine Ways, Inc. from January 1957. She entered service on March 7, 1958 and served as part of the Military Sea Transportation Service, working around Canada and Greenland, with a single voyage to Antarctica in 1961.

In 1963 she was chosen for a major conversion. On April 15, 1964 she was reclassifed AGOR-11, designed for deep oceanographic search and research and fitted with a deepsea probe, equipped with strobe lights, cameras, sonar, and magnetometer. She was then operated by the MSTS under the Naval Research Laboratory, Washington. Her major tasks were ocean floor study and service as a floating base for underwater acoustic, chemical, and biological research.

She was assigned to Military Sealift Command Pacific in 1975 and underwent another major modification in 1980.

Mizar took part in the search operations for USS|Thresher|SSN-593, the nuclear weapons lost off Palomares, Spain, [Melson, June 1967, p.31] and the extended search for USS|Scorpion|SSN-589 - which was found in October, 1968. She has also taken part in searches for foreign wrecks, including "Eurydice" and Soviet submarines including "K-129".

She was withdrawn from active service in the 1990s and reclassified as AK-272. Currently she is part of the National Defense Reserve Fleet in the James River, Fort Eustis, Virginia and is listed for disposal. Bay Bridge Enterprizes, LLC, was awarded a contract for the dismantling and recycling of "Mizar" on 21 July 2005.

Notes

References

*DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/m12/mizar-ii.htm
*NVR|http://www.nvr.navy.mil/nvrships/details/AGOR11.htm
*

External links

* http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-m/ak272.htm
* [http://patriot.net/~eastlnd2/Agor.htm AGOR Numeric List]