earth science

USNS Thomas Washington

USNS Thomas Washington is a earth science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand USNS Thomas Washington rather than just read about it. In short: Thomas Washington (T-AGOR-10) was a Robert D. Conrad-class oceanographic research ship delivered to the U.S.

Key takeaways

USNS Thomas Washington belongs to earth science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect USNS Thomas Washington to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of USNS Thomas Washington from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Thomas Washington (T-AGOR-10) was a Robert D. Conrad-class oceanographic research ship delivered to the U.S. Navy in 1965. The ship was owned by the Navy but assigned to the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, University of California, La Jolla, California and operated as R/VThomas Washington from delivery to inactivation. In September 1992 the ship was sold to Chile and operated by the Chilean Navy as Vidal Gormaz until decommissioned in August 2010 and broken up in 2012.

Construction Thomas Washington was laid down on 12 September 1963 at Marinette, Wisconsin, by the Marinette Marine Corp.; launched on 1 August 1964; sponsored jointly by Misses Barbara E. and Ann H. Washington, granddaughters of Admiral Thomas Washington; and delivered to the Navy on 17 September 1965. The ship was 209 ft (63.7 m) length overall, 39.5 ft (12.0 m) beam, 16.7 ft (5.1 m) draft, 1,151 GRT with a displacement tonnage of 1,490. The diesel-electric engine drove a single propeller for a cruising speed of 10 kn (12 mph; 19 km/h) and a maximum speed of 11.5 kn (13.2 mph; 21.3 km/h). With a capacity of 66,000 US gallons (250,000 L) of diesel oil the ship had a range of 8,200 nmi (9,400 mi; 15,200 km) at cruising speed. In addition to the main engine the ship had a retractable, trainable, 360 degree bow thruster. The ship was operated with eight officers and fifteen crew with a scientific complement of twenty-two. In addition to a wet laboratory and a dry laboratory the ship had the capability to accommodate two 8 ft (2.4 m) by 8 ft (2.4 m) by 20 ft (6.1 m) vans on deck for extra berthing or instruments. For equipment handling and operation there was an "A" frame of 10,000 pounds (4,500 kg) capacity, crane with 16,000 pounds (7,300 kg) capacity and three oceanographic/hydrographic winches. In 1967 an IBM 1800 computer, the first of its kind installed in a research vessel, for data acquisition and control was installed allowing data processing at sea rather than after operations with land-based computers. By retirement Thomas Washington had been equipped with a Furuno shallow water sounding system and for deep sounding both EDO narrow beam and a SeaBeam swath system. The ship had a capability for seismic profiling.

Operation The ship was assigned to the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, of the University of California as one of three such ships operated by academic institutions as parts of the national academic research fleet; the others being R/V Robert D. Conrad operated by the Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University and R/V Thomas G. Thompson operated by the University of Washington. The Navy owned ships operated under the general control of the Oceanographer of the Navy, but were managed by the institutions, with civilian crews, conducting research experiments in support of the national oceanographic programs of the United States. The ship's operation schedule for 1991, its last full operation year, shows the ship operated for a variety of purposes with numerous sponsors.

Inactivation Thomas Washington, reaching the 1992 end of life projection, was inactivated and struck by the Navy 1 August 1992.

Chilean service The ship was sold to Chile for operation by the Chilean Navy, renamed Vidal Gormaz for the founder of the Chilean Hydrographic Office, Commodore Francisco Vidal Gormaz (1837 - 1907), and commissioned at San Diego, California on 28 September 1992. Vidal Gormaz arrived at Valparaíso on 3 December 1992. The vessel participated in such research operations as Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere, World Ocean Circulation Experiment, El Niño–Southern Oscillation and national Marine Scientific Research Voyages in National Fiords and Oceanic Islands and other Chilean scientific data collection. The ship, designated AGOR-60, was decommissioned by the Chilean Navy on 30 August 2010. She was broken up at Chinquique, Puerto Montt in 2012.

Footnotes

References

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.

External links "The Mid-Ocean Ridge" — description in Scientific American of SeaBeam survey aboard Thomas Washington History of UNOLS

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with USNS Thomas Washington

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what USNS Thomas Washington claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In earth science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to USNS Thomas Washington before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about USNS Thomas Washington ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of USNS Thomas Washington

In research: USNS Thomas Washington appears in earth science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses USNS Thomas Washington in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: USNS Thomas Washington is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1964 ships, Auxiliary ships of Chile, Auxiliary ships of the Chilean Navy, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for USNS Thomas Washington outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study USNS Thomas Washington in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what USNS Thomas Washington means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain USNS Thomas Washington out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is USNS Thomas Washington in simple terms?

Thomas Washington (T-AGOR-10) was a Robert D. Conrad-class oceanographic research ship delivered to the U.S.

Why does USNS Thomas Washington matter?

Because it connects several earth science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study USNS Thomas Washington?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on USNS Thomas Washington.