Halter Launches Navy Oceanographic Survey Ship

Bruce G. Heezen, a 329-ft. U.S. Navy oceanographic survey ship, is one of the largest vessels constructed by Halter Marine Group. The name for the T-AGS 60 class vessel was determined in a contest initiated by Oceanographer of the Navy, Rear Admiral Paul Tobin. The Navy invited students from across the nation to study the work of oceanographers and submit names of those scientists whose work they admired. The winning entry was submitted by students from Oak Lawn Elementary in Cranston, R.I. Several of the students from the class attended the christening, held at the Halter Moss Point Shipyard, with one addressing the audience on what the experience has meant to them. Heezen discovered turbidity currents and aided the understanding of plate tectonics. Heezen, who died while diving in the Navy's deep submersible submarine, created countless maps and photographs of the ocean floor, revealing a frontier nine times the surface of the moon.