Us Naval Observatory News

In the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, Congress established a commission to rename several military bases and ships that commemorate members of the Confederacy. One of these is the Naval oceanographic ship USNS Maury (T-AGS 66), named after oceanographer Matthew Fontaine Maury, who resigned his commission in the U.S. Navy to join the Confederacy at the outbreak of the American Civil War. The USNS Maury is an asset of the Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command (NMOC), which I led from 2014-2017.

1861 - USS Penguin, commanded by Cmdr. John L. Livingston, engages blockade-runner Louisa during the Civil War. The blockade-runner hits a sandbar near Cape Fear, N.C., and sinks. 1877 - Prof. Asaph Hall of the U.S. Naval Observatory discovers the first of two satellites of Mars, Phobos and Deimos, using the largest refractor of the time, a USNO 26-inch (66-cm) telescope. 1898 - During the Spanish-American War, USS Cushing (TB 1), USS Gwin (TB 16), and USS McKee (TB 18) captured and burned the Spanish schooner Jover Genard at Carendas, Cuba.

Accompanied by azure blue skies and a stiff breeze, the Navy christened and launched its newest oceanographic survey ship, USNS Maury (T-AGS 66), the last of its class at VT Halter Marine’s shipyard in Moss Point, Miss., in a traditional Navy ceremony on March 27. The 350-foot ship is named for Cmdr. Matthew F. Maury, considered to be the father of oceanography, nicknamed the “Pathfinder of the Seas” and the first superintendent of the U.S. Naval Observatory. Maury is 24 feet…

In a ceremony at the U.S. Naval Observatory, Rear Adm. David Titley assumed the office of oceanographer of the Navy, replacing retiring Rear Adm. David A. Gove. Titley will simultaneously maintain his current position as commander of the Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command until a replacement can be found. Headquartered at the U.S. Naval Observatory, the oceanographer of the Navy serves as the advisor to the chief of naval operations for resources, requirements, and policy with regard to the Naval Oceanography Program. The program, which includes the disciplines of oceanography, hydrography, meteorology, geospatial information and services…

From the Navy News Service 1950 - Mary T. Sproul is commissioned as the first female doctor in the Navy. 1959 - The U.S. Naval Observatory introduces the system of uniform atomic time using cesium beam atomic oscillators. This measurement has since been adopted as standard by the International Committee on Weights and Measures. 1962 - Navy SEAL (Sea, Air and Land) teams established.

The White House is asking the U.S. Navy to pay the six-figure utility bill for Vice President Dick Cheney's house, as Democrats accused Cheney, the administration's point man on energy policy, of "staggering insensitivity." The bill for electricity, gas and water for the 33-room official vice presidential residence at the U.S. Naval Observatory is projected at $136,000 for fiscal 2002 which ends in September, compared with a budget of $43,600, the White House said. The bills have far outstripped the budget since an electricity meter was installed in 1998, the White House said. This has driven Cheney to practice the energy conservation…