Oxford class technical research ship

USS Oxford (AG-159)
Class overview
Name: Oxford-class technical research ship
Builders: New England Shipbuilding Corporation
Operators:  United States Navy
Succeeded by: Belmont-class technical research ship
Built: 1945
In commission: 1945-1969
Completed: 3
Retired: 3
General characteristics
Class & type: Oxford-class technical research ship
Type: Z-EC2-S-C5
Displacement:
  • 8,345 long tons (8,479 t) light
  • 11,365 long tons (11,547 t) full load
Length: 441 ft 6 in (134.6 m)
Beam: 56 ft 11 in (17.3 m)
Draft: 22 ft 9 in (6.9 m)
Propulsion:
  • 2 × 220 PSI boilers
  • 1 × 3-cylinder triple-expansion reciprocating engine, 2,500 shp (1,864 kW)
  • 1 × 4-bladed 18 ft 6 in (5.6 m) propeller
  • 1 shaft
Speed: 11 knots (20 km/h; 13 mph)
Complement: 213
Armament: 4 × .50 caliber machine guns

The Oxford-class of technical research ships were a class of three WWII Liberty ships converted in the early 1960s to provide a seaborne platform for global eavesdropping on behalf of the National Security Agency. The ships of this class were similar to the Belmont-class ships of the same era with the difference being that they were adapted from Victory ships.

Ships in class

See also

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, February 03, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.