From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
NRP
Almirante Gago Coutinho
(
A523
) is a ship of the
Portuguese Navy
'
Dom Carlos I
-class survey vessels (ex-US
Stalwart
-class
ocean surveillance ship
adapted in
Portugal
for the execution of
hydrography
and
oceanography
surveys). Before transfer to the Portuguese Navy,
Almirante Gago Coutinho
was formerly
USNS
Assurance
(
T-AGOS-5
) of the
United States Navy
.
Design
[
edit
]
The
Stalwart
-class
ocean surveillance ships
were succeeded by the longer
Victorious
class
.
Assurance
had an
overall length
of 224 feet (68 m) and a length of 203 feet 6 inches (62.03 m) at its
waterline
. It had a
beam
of 43 feet (13 m) and a
draft
of 15 feet (4.6 m). The surveillance ship had a
displacement
of 1,600 tonnes (1,600 long tons; 1,800 short tons) at light load and 2,301 tonnes (2,265 long tons; 2,536 short tons) at full load. It was powered by a diesel-electric system of four Caterpillar D-398 diesel-powered generators and two
General Electric
550 metric horsepower (540 shp; 400 kW) electric motors. This produced a total of 3,200 metric horsepower (3,200 shp; 2,400 kW) that drove two
shafts
. It had a
gross register tonnage
of 1,584 tons and a
deadweight tonnage
of 786 tons.
[1]
The
Stalwart
-class ocean surveillance ships had maximum speeds of 11 knots (20 km/h; 13 mph). They were built to be fitted with the
Surveillance Towed Array Sensor System
(SURTASS) system. The ship had an endurance of thirty days. It had a range of 3,000 miles (2,600 nmi; 4,800 km) and a speed of 11 knots (20 km/h; 13 mph). Its
complement
was between thirty-two and forty-seven. Its hull design was similar to that of the
Powhatan
-class
tugboats
.
[1]
History
[
edit
]
USNS
Assurance
was a
Stalwart
-class modified tactical auxiliary general ocean surveillance ship of the United States Navy.
Stalwart
-class ships were originally designed to collect underwater
acoustical data
in support of
Cold War
anti-submarine warfare
operations in the 1980s.
In 1999, ex-USNS
Assurance
was transferred to Portugal and is now NRP
Almirante Gago Coutinho
survey ship.
[2]
References
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]
External links
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]