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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive


Left patch contributed by Don McGrogan BMCS USN (Ret.), right patch contributed by Carl R Friberg

USNS Wyman (T-AGS-34)

International Radio Call Sign:
November - Whiskey - Echo - Quebec
NWEQ
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Precedence of awards is from left to right
National Defense Service Medal


Wilkes Class Hydrographic Survey Ship:
  • Laid down, 18 July 1968 at Defoe Shipbuilding Co., Bay City, MI.
  • Launched, 30 October 1969
  • Delivered to the Navy, 3 November 1971
  • Placed in service with the Military Sealift Command (MSC) as USNS Wyman (T-AGS-34)
  • USNS Wyman was initially assigned to MSC Atlantic and later to MSC Pacific
  • Placed out of service, 3 May 1999 and struck from the Naval Register the same day
  • Laid up at the Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility (NISMF) Pearl Harbor, HI.
  • Towed to Benicia, CA. for layup in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, Suisun Bay, 26 March 2001
  • Maritime Administration accepted title, 28 July 2001
  • Final Disposition, found ineligible for historic status, 7 May 2012, the vessel was ultimately scrapped by ESCO Marine, Inc., of Brownsville, TX., 4 March-1 October 2014
    Specifications:
    Displacement 1,935 t.(lt) 2,500 t.(fl)
    Length 286' 7"
    Beam 48'
    Draft 17'
    Speed 15 kts.
    Armament none
    Complement
    12 offices
    30 enlisted
    28 survey party
    Propulsion
    ALCO Diesels
    General Electric electric drive
    single shaft. SHP approx.3000

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    For Full Size Image
    Size Image Description Source
    Wyman 161k
    Namesake

    Robert H. Wyman—born at Portsmouth, N.H., on 12 July 1822—was appointed midshipman on 11 March 1837 and served initially in the razee Independence on the Brazil station. After sea duty in the sloops-of-war Fairfield and John Adams—the latter commanded by his father—he was appointed passed midshipman in 1843. Over the next three years, Wyman served in South American waters in the schooner On-ka-hy-e, the brig Perry, and the frigate Brandywine before participating in the Mexican War in Commodore Conner's Home Squadron—first in the steamer Princeton and later in the brig Porpoise and the sloop Albany. During that time, he took part in the expeditions against Tampico during November 1864 and Veracruz in March 1847.
    Passed Midshipman Wyman spent a tour of duty ashore at the Naval Observatory, Washington, D.C., before reporting to the receiving ship at Boston, Franklin, and subsequently being promoted to lieutenant on 16 July 1850. Over the next decade, he served at sea; and the outbreak of the Civil War in April 1861 found him in command of Richmond on the Mediterranean station. Early in July, soon after he brought that steam sloop-of-war home for wartime duty, he took command of Yankee. In September, Wyman assumed command of Pocahontas. That ship, as part of the Potomac River Flotilla, helped to keep open the Union's vital waterway communications with Washington while cutting off Southern forces from their sympathizers in southern Maryland. Commanding the steamer Pawnee from October 1861, Wyman took part in Flag Officer DuPont's capture of the key seaport of Port Royal, S.C. After that operation, Wyman returned north and took command 01 the Potomac River Flotilla on 6 December 1861. He held this important post until the end of June 1862. During his time in the Potomac, he was active in maintaining Union control of that vital river and of much of the Rappahannock during General McClellan's Peninsular Campaign. His ships destroyed Southern bridges, captured nine Confederate ships, and burned 40 schooners. Promoted to commander on 16 July 1862, Wyman was ordered to command the gunboat Sonoma on the James River. Transferred to the West Indian Squadron the following October, he commanded the steam sloop Wachusett and the paddle steamer Santiago de Cuba, and captured the blockade runners Brittania and Lizzie. During the last two years of the War Between the States, Wyman served on special duty in the Navy Department in Washington. After the Civil War, Wyman commanded Colorado, the flagship for the European Squadron, and was promoted to captain on 25 July 1866 and took command of the steam sloop Ticonderoga the following year. After that tour of sea duty, Wyman headed the Navy's Hydrographic Office for eight years, receiving promotions to commodore on 19 July 1872 and to rear admiral on 26 April 1878. His leadership of the Hydro-graphic Office proved to be of great importance to the Navy and seafaring men in general. Through the Civil War, the United States Navy had relied upon foreign sources—principally British—for their navigational charts, doing little of their own hydrographic work. Under Wyman's direction, the office began a systematic and sustained program of world-wide charting and surveying, the precursor of the Navy's present globe-girdling oceanographic research effort. Following his promotion to flag rank in the spring of 1878, Wyman was given command of the North Atlantic Squadron. Subsequently becoming chairman of the Lighthouse Board, Rear Admiral Wyman died in Washington, D.C., on 2 December 1882.
    Digital ID: cwpb 06033 Source: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division
    Bill Gonyo
    Wyman 61k Wyman (T-AGS-34) on the building ways at Defoe Shipbuilding Co., Bay City, MI. circa 1968-69.
    US Navy Photo
    Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
    Wyman 65k USNS Wyman (T-AGS-34) anchored, date and location unknown. Ramon Jackson
    Wyman 123k USNS Wyman (T-AGS-34) anchored, date and location unknown. Carl R. Friberg Jr.
    Master, USNS Wyman
    Wyman 855k USNS Wyman (T-AGS-34) moored at Genoa, Italy, 28 February 1973. Photo by Carlo Martinelli
    Wyman 89k Stern view of USNS Wyman (T-AGS-34) moored, circa 1993-4, location unknown. A NAVOCEANO (Naval Oceanographic Office) Bulletin photo. Robert Hurst
    Wyman 272k USNS Wyman (T-AGS-34) Welcome Aboard brochure, front and back pages Carl R. Friberg Jr.
    Master, USNS Wyman
    Wyman 167k USNS Wyman (T-AGS-34) Welcome Aboard brochure, inside pages Carl R. Friberg Jr.
    Master, USNS Wyman
    Wyman
    09103409
    143k Ex-USNS Wyman (T-AGS-34) laid up in reserve in the National Defense Fleet, Suisun Bay, Benicia, CA., date unknown.
    MARAD
    Robert Hurst

    USNS Wyman (T-AGS-34)
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    MARAD Vessel History Database
    National Register Eligibility Assessment

    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation - Navy Log

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    Last Updated 12 May 2024