USNS Mizar

For other ships with the same name, see USS Mizar.

History
United States
Laid down	1 January 1957
Launched	7 October 1957
In service	7 March 1958
Stricken	16 February 1990
Fate	Sold for scrap
General characteristics
Displacement	1,850t (3,886t loaded)
Length	266 ft (81 m)
Beam	52 ft (16 m)
Draft	18 ft (5.5 m)
Propulsion	Diesel electric
Speed	13 kts
Complement	42 officers and enlisted

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 reclassified 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 Palomares Incident in which nuclear weapons were lost off Palomares, Spain, 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She was withdrawn from active service in the 1990s and reclassified as AK-272. Bay Bridge Enterprizes, LLC, was awarded a contract for the dismantling and recycling of Mizar on 21 July 2005.

References

•  This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
•  This article includes information collected from the Naval Vessel Register, which, as a U.S. government publication, is in the public domain. The entry can be found here.
• Melson, Lewis B., CAPT USN (June 1967). "Contact 261". United States Naval Institute Proceedings. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

External links

• http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-m/ak272.htm
• AGOR Numeric List