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NRP
Dom Carlos I
(
A522
) is the lead ship of the
Portuguese Navy
's
Dom Carlos I
-class survey vessels (ex-US
Stalwart
-class
ocean surveillance ships
) adapted in
Portugal
for the execution of
hydrography
and
oceanography
surveys. Before the transference to the Portuguese Navy,
Dom Carlos I
was
USNS
Audacious
(
T-AGOS-11
) surveillance ship of the
United States Navy
.
History
[
edit
]
USNS
Audacious
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.
ex-USNS
Audacious
was transferred to the Portuguese Navy in 1996 and renamed
Dom Carlos I
in honor to
Carlos I
,
King of Portugal
and a pioneer scientist in the
oceanography
field.
[1]
The refitting of
Audacious
for transfer to Portugal was completed at Detyens Shipyard on the site of the former Charleston Naval Base in North Charleston, South Carolina.
In Portugal,
Almirante Gago Coutinho
underwent adaptation works towards its transformation into a hydro-oceanographic ship, in the
Alfeite Naval Arsenal
. The first phase of the transformation was carried out in 2001 and the second phase in 2004. The Portuguese Navy has tried to fix it for almost a year but that work is very difficult because of lack of money and resources and tight budget. In its full capacity for the assignments it was tasked for; this vessel stands over 6 months in service without refueling. The only reason it needs harbouring is to get the food needed for its 32 sailors on board.
Recently it was installed a new sonar dome. With this new improvement it is expected to sonar the 5,000 meter depth or more.
References
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]
External links
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]