USNS Bold

For other ships with the same name, see USS Bold.
OSV Bold docked in Port Canaveral, Florida.
History
United States
Ordered30 September 1987
BuilderTacoma Boatbuilding Company
Laid down13 June 1988
Launched24 May 1989
Acquired16 October 1989
Stricken3 March 2004
Identification
FateTransferred to the EPA
General characteristics
Class and typeStalwart-class ocean surveillance ship
Displacement2500 tons
Length224 ft (68 m)
Draft15 feet
PropulsionDiesel Electric
Speed11 knots (20 km/h; 13 mph)
Complement19 crew, 20 scientists
Sensors and
processing systems		underwater video, sidescan sonar, and general sampling instruments such as corers, dredges, and trawls

The Ocean Survey Vessel (OSV) Bold was operated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Originally commissioned as the USNS Vigorous, it was renamed USNS Bold (T-AGOS-12) and was a Stalwart-class Auxiliary General Ocean Surveillance ship of the Military Sealift Command of the United States Navy, as designated by the "T" preface to her AGOS classification.[1] Stalwart-class ships were originally designed to collect underwater acoustical data in support of Cold War anti-submarine warfare operations in the 1980s.

The ship was transferred to the EPA on March 31, 2004.[2] The ship is equipped with sidescan sonar, underwater video, water and sediment sampling instruments in study of ocean and coastline.[3] One of the major missions of the Bold is to monitor sites where materials are dumped from dredging operations in U.S. ports for ecological impact.[4][5] In 2013, the Bold was awarded to Seattle Central Community College (SCCC) by the General Services Administration. SCCC demonstrated in a competition that they would put it to the highest and best purpose, and acquired the ship at a cost of $5,000.[6]

However, by 2015 SCCC had failed to develop the plans for the Bold which they had pledged to the GSA to implement and as such GSA placed the ship for sale to the general public. By the middle of the year the ship was auctioned to an undisclosed party who moved the ship to Lake Union Drydock in Seattle for layberthing. The ship has since been placed for sale on eBay for $4M.[citation needed]

Bold was converted to perform geophysical and geotechnical survey work in Singapore in 2020. In April 2020, it began operating as R/V Bold Explorer for EGS Survey.[7][8]

  • USNS Bold (T-AGOS-12) at the Washington Navy Yard
    USNS Bold (T-AGOS-12) at the Washington Navy Yard
  • Bold at Lake Union Drydock in 2015
    Bold at Lake Union Drydock in 2015
  • Bold Explorer off Kauai, 25 December 2023
    Bold Explorer off Kauai, 25 December 2023
  1. ^ Ships and Aircraft of the U.S. Navy (various editions) published by U.S. Naval Institute, Annapolis, MD
  2. ^ "OAS platform Detail for Bold". National Centers for Environmental Information. Washington, DC: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 2019-02-11. Archived from the original on 2023-12-29. Retrieved 2023-12-29.
  3. ^ "Ocean Survey Vessel (OSV) Bold". Washington, DC: United States Environmental Protection Agency. Archived from the original on 2010-04-01. Retrieved 2023-12-29.
  4. ^ "About the OSV Bold". EPA. pp. EPA 842-F-05-004. Retrieved 2009-01-17.
  5. ^ "OSV Bold". Brochure. EPA. Retrieved 2009-01-17.
  6. ^ Long, Katherine. "What a $5,000 deal: Seattle Central gets former Navy ship". The Seattle Times. Archived from the original on 2013-10-12. Retrieved 2013-12-02.
  7. ^ "Second ex-US Navy surveillance ship joins EGS fleet". Baird Maritime. 30 April 2020. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
  8. ^ "RV Bold Explorer" (PDF). EGS Survey. Retrieved 29 December 2023.