USS IX 306 (Army FS Design 427) Class

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USS IX 306 in October 1969.
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Class: IX 306 (Army FS Design 427)
Design: Army FS Design 427
Displacement (tons): (est.) 640 light, 930 full
Dimensions (feet): 180' oa, 170' wl x 33' e, 32' wl x 10' max nav
Armament: none
Accommodations: (est.) 39
Speed (kts.): 13
Propulsion (HP): 1,000
Machinery: Geared diesel, 2 screws

Construction:

IX	Name	Acq	Builder	Contract	Completed	Comm
306	IX 306	Jul 1968	Higgins, New Orleans	11 Jan 1943	Jan 1945	Jan 1969

Disposition:

IX	Name	T	Decomm	Strike	Disposal	Fate	MA Sale
306	IX 306		1988	30 Nov 1988	12 Oct 1989	Navy sale	--

Class Notes:
IX 306 (no other Navy name) was a former Army 180-ft Design 427 aircraft maintenance and supply vessel acquired by the Navy on a loan basis in July 1968 and converted for service as a torpedo research vessel at the Naval Underwater Weapons Research and Engineering Station (NUWS) at Newport, R.I. She was fitted with a torpedo tube in the starboard side of the bow just aft of the hull number and a crane on deck for handling items over the side, eventually including targets that simulated threat submarines. On July 1, 1970 the Naval Material Command's independent laboratories, the Navy Underwater Sound Laboratory at New London and NUWS at Newport, were administratively combined to form the Naval Underwater Systems Center (NUSC) with headquarters in Newport, and in July 1971 the Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center (AUTEC) located in the Bahamas with a logistics component at Palm Beach, Florida, became a detachment of NUSC. IX 306 eventually moved to the AUTEC range were she was manned by Navy and RCA civilian personnel. NEW BEDFORD (IX 308, ex T-AKL 17) performed similar duty at the Naval Torpedo Station (later the Naval Undersea Warfare Engineering Station) at Keyport, Wash. from 1969 to 1995.

Ship Notes:

IX	Name	MA	Notes
306	IX 306		(ex-FS 221, COL FRANCIS M ZIEGLER).