USC&GS Hilgard (ASV 82)

USC&GS Hilgard (ASV 82)
History
United States
Name:	USC&GS Hilgard (ASV 82)
Namesake:	Julius Erasmus Hilgard (1825-1890), fifth superintendent of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey (1881-1885)
Builder:	Robinson Marine, Benton Harbor, Michigan
Completed:	1942
In service:	1942
Out of service:	1967
General characteristics
Type:	Survey ship
Length:	66 ft (20 m)
Beam:	14 ft 8 in (4.47 m)
Draft:	3 ft 5 in (1.04 m)
Propulsion:	Twin diesel engines

USC&GS Hilgard (ASV 82).^[1] was a survey ship that served in the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey from 1942 to 1967.

Hilgard was built as an "auxiliary survey vessel" (ASV) for the Coast and Geodetic Survey by Robinson Marine at Benton Harbor, Michigan, in 1942.

A United States Coast and Geodetic Survey diagram of ca. 1920 of wire-drag hydrographic survey operations as carried out by Hilgard and her sister ship USC&GS Wainwright (ASV 83). The basic principle is to drag a wire attached to two vessels; if the wire encounters an obstruction it will come taut and form a "V."

Hilgard and her sister ship USC&GS Wainwright (ASV 83) conducted wire-drag hydrographic survey operations together along the United States East Coast until 1967, when they were replaced by USC&GS Rude (ASV 90), which later became NOAAS Rude (S 590), and USC&GS Heck (ASV 91), which later became NOAAS Heck (S 591).

References

1. Silverstone, Paul H., The Navy of the Nuclear Age 1947-2007, New York: Routledge, 2009, ISBN 0-415-97899-8, p. 303.

• NOAA History, A Science Odyssey: Tools of the Trade: Ships: Coast and Geodetic Survey Ships: Hilgard