Sea Trials of the SWATH Ship USNS Victorious (T-AGOS 19)

In 1986 the design of the Navy's first large SWATH (small waterplane area twin hull) ship was completed. Designated the T-AGOS 19 Class, these vessels were designed to operate comfortably in high latitudes during winter months. The T-AGOS 19 and T-AGOS 23 Classes represent one of the greatest departures in naval surface ship design in the past century. In 1989 extensive confirmation sea trials on USNS Victorious (T-AGOS 19) were required by the Chief Engineer of the Navy. T-AGOS 19 was built by McDermott Shipyards in Amelia, Louisiana and was delivered to the Navy in August of 1991. An extensive Core Data Acquisition System (CDAS) was installed to support seakeeping, ship motions, hydrodynamic, structural, and acoustic trials. The trials were continual from the winter of 1991/92 in the North Atlantic through winter of 1992/93 in the North Pacific, and finished with standardization trials off Hawaii in April of 1993. An extensive amount of trials data has been generated, the analysis of which is still in process. This paper is an overview of the trials and a presentation (preliminary) of some of the results. The Victorious has proven to be a very seakindly ship with motions that allow one to comfortably work at a computer station in sea state 7.