USNS Wyman (T-AGS-34) was an oceanographic survey vessel laid down on 18 July 1968 by the Defoe Shipbuilding Company

Defoe Shipbuilding Company

The Defoe Shipbuilding Company was a small ship builder established in 1905 in Bay City, Michigan, USA. It ceased to operate in 1976 after failing to renew its contracts with the United States Navy. The site of the former company is now a scrapyard on the bank of the Saginaw River.-Founding:Harry J...

 of Bay City, Michigan

Bay City, Michigan

Bay City is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan located near the base of the Saginaw Bay on Lake Huron. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 34,932, and is the principal city of the Bay City Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is included in the Saginaw-Bay City-Saginaw Township North...

. Launched on 30 October 1969, sponsored by Mrs. Francis J. Blouin, wife of the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations, Vice Admiral F. J. Blouin; she was accepted by the Military Sealift Command

Military Sealift Command

The Military Sealift Command is a United States Navy organization that controls most of the replenishment and military transport ships of the Navy. It first came into existence on 9 July 1949 when the Military Sea Transportation Service became solely responsible for the Department of Defense's...

 (MSC) on 19 November 1971 at the Boston Naval Shipyard. J. H. Blythe was the ship's first civil service master.

Wyman, designed and built to conduct hydrographic

Hydrography

Hydrography is the measurement of the depths, the tides and currents of a body of water and establishment of the sea, river or lake bed topography and morphology. Normally and historically for the purpose of charting a body of water for the safe navigation of shipping...

 and oceanographic

Oceanography

Oceanography , also called oceanology or marine science, is the branch of Earth science that studies the ocean...

 studies and operated by a civilian crew, served with MSC under the technical direction of the Oceanographer of the Navy. Initially assigned to MSC Atlantic, Wyman was transferred to MSC Pacific on 16 November 1974 for a brief tour of duty that lasted into the summer of 1975. She was returned to MSC Atlantic at Port Canaveral

Port Canaveral

Port Canaveral is a cruise, cargo and naval port in Brevard County, Florida, United States. It is one of the busiest cruise ports in the world with nearly 2.8 million multi-day cruise passengers passing through during 2010. As a deep water cargo port, it has a high volume of traffic. Over of bulk...

, Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

, on 21 August 1975 and remained active with that fleet into 1979.

The ship's original echo sounding equipment and Hydrographic Dataa Acquisition System (HYDAS) was replaced in the mid 1970s by a new narrow beam swath system. The swath array, replacing the single beam system, was the Bottom Topography Survey Subsystem (BOTOSS) and the processing system, replacing HYDAS, was the Bathymetric Survey System (BASS). The initial BOTOSS hull mounting was subject to air bubble interference so that a new arrangement on a fairing and foil mounted on the keel was required to house the array elements during a 1974-1975 period in a West Coast yard.

Wyman was struck from the Naval Vessel Register

Naval Vessel Register

The Naval Vessel Register is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from the time a vessel is authorized through its life cycle and...

 on 3 May 1999, and transferred to the Maritime Administration (MARAD

Marad

Marad was an ancient Sumerian city. Marad was situated on the west bank of the then western branch of the Upper Euphrates River west of Nippur in modern day Iraq and roughly 50 km southeast of Kish, on the Arahtu River.The city's ziggurat E-igi-kalama was dedicated to Ninurta the god of...

) for disposal. Currently laid up at the National Defense Reserve Fleet (NDRF) at Suisun Bay, CA.