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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

USNS Maury (T-AGS-39)


Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

National Defense Service Medal

Maury Class Hydrographic Survey Ship:
  • Laid down, 4 September 1986, under Maritime Administration contract (MA hull 4667), at Bethlehem Steel Shipyard, Sparrows Point, MD.
  • Launched, 4 September 1987
  • Delivered to the US Navy, 31 March 1989
  • Placed in service with the Military Sealift Command (MSC) as USNS Maury (T-AGS-39)
  • Placed out of service in September 1994
  • Transferred to the Maritime Administration (MARAD) for lay up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, Suisun Bay, Benecia, CA.
  • Struck from the Naval Register, 1 October 1994
  • Transferred by MARAD to the California Maritime Academy, 16 September 1996, renamed TS Golden Bear III
    Specifications:
    Displacement 9,319 t.(lt) 15,928 t.(fl)
    Length 449' 10"
    Beam 72'
    Draft 30
    Speed 20+kts
    Armament none
    Complement crew and scientific party, 108
    Propulsion two Enterprise R5-V16 Diesel engines, single shaft, 17,000hp

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    USNS Maury (T-AGS-39)
    Maury 138k
    Namesake

    Commander Matthew Fontaine Maury USN

    Comdr. Matthew Fontaine Maury, astronomer and hydrographer, was born in Spotsylvania County, Va., 14 January 1806. Appointed Midshipman 1 February 1825, he achieved the rank of Commander 14 September 1855. He was appointed Superintendent of the Department of Charts and Instruments in 1842, and upon the establishment of the Naval Observatory in 1844 became its first Superintendent, holding that position until his resignation in April 1861. During this period he published some of his best known scientific works, and his “Wind and Current Charts,” “Sailing Directions,” and “Physical Geography of the Sea” remain standard. He became world famous as “Pathfinder of the Seas,” the leading oceanographer of history. Following his resignation at the outbreak of the Civil War, he joined the Confederate Navy, in which he attained the rank of Commodore. At the end of the war he occupied the chair of physics at the Virginia Military Institute. He died at Lexington, Va., 1 February 1873.
    Bill Gonyo
    Maury 1170k USNS Maury underway, date and location unknown. Chris Jantsch
    TS Golden Bear III
    Maury
    09103915
    329k Ex-USNS Maury (T-AGS-39) arrives at Federal Industrial Supply Center (ex-Naval Supply Center Oakland), 2 September 1996. Officers and students from California Maritime Academy waiting for the ship on the pier.
    Vallejo Naval and Historic Museum File: T-AGS 39 Sep 2 1996 TH
    Darryl Baker
    Maury
    09103916
    208k Official transfer of ex-USNS Maury (T-AGS-39) to the California Maritime Academy, 16 September 1996. State of California Secretary for Child Development & Education Maureen DiMarco (center) and California Maritime Academy President Dr. Mary Lions, right, arrive onstage for the commemorating transfer of Maury to the California Maritime Academy. The ship will be renamed TS Golden Bear III.
    Vallejo Naval and Historic Museum File: T-AGS 39 091696 TH
    Darryl Baker
    Maury 39k Ex-USNS Maury (T-AGS-39) in the service of the California Maritime Academy as TS Golden Bear III, moored pierside at Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, CA., date unknown.
    MARAD photo
    US Maritime Administration
    Maury 107k View looking across Carquenez Strait at the California Maritime Academy campus beyond TS Golden Bear III, moored at her dock at the California Maritime Academy in the Carquenez Strait at Vallejo, CA.
    Photo courtesy of PappyV.
    Robert Hurst
    Maury 76k TS Golden Bear III, moored at her dock at the California Maritime Academy in the Carquenez Strait at Vallejo, CA.
    MARAD photo
    US Maritime Administration
    Maury 92k TS Golden Bear III, moored at her dock at the California Maritime Academy in the Carquenez Strait at Vallejo, CA.
    MARAD photo
    US Maritime Administration
    Maury 105k TS Golden Bear III, moored at her dock at the California Maritime Academy in the Carquenez Strait at Vallejo, CA. A good view of the Carquenez Strait Bridge in the background.
    MARAD photo
    US Maritime Administration
    Maury 35k TS Golden Bear III, moored at her dock at the California Maritime Academy in the Carquenez Strait at Vallejo, CA.
    MARAD photo
    US Maritime Administration
    Maury 34k TS Golden Bear III. Cal Maritime
    Maury 37k TS Golden Bear III
    MARAD photo
    US Maritime Administration
    Maury 35k TS Golden Bear III
    MARAD photo
    US Maritime Administration
    Maury 31k TS Golden Bear III
    MARAD photo
    US Maritime Administration
    Maury 45k TS Golden Bear III
    MARAD photo
    US Maritime Administration
    Maury 36k TS Golden Bear III
    MARAD photo
    US Maritime Administration
    Maury 1164k TS Golden Bear III passing under the Golden Gate bridge while outbound from San Francisco Bay, circa 2002.
    Photo by Brandon Wiggins
    Robert Hurst
    Maury
    09103917
    62k TS Golden Bear III moored in her berth at the California Maritime Academy campus at Vallejo, CA., 18 September 2023.
    Contributor unknown. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
    Robert Hurst
    Maury
    09103918
    106k TS Golden Bear III drydocked in a shipyard in Washington state, 12 Decemer 2013
    Contributor unknown. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International License CC BY-SA 4.0 Deed.
    Robert Hurst

    There is no DANFS History currently available for USNS Maury (T-AGS-39) at NavSource
    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation - Navy Log

    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    California Maritime Academy

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    Last Updated 21 June 2024