Today, they still patrol the vast oceans and also support fleet battle groups operating in littoral regions with the mission to gather underwater acoustical data.

The SURTASS ships, with the hull designation T-AGOS, provided the world wide ocean surveillance, the US Navy required, with remarkable reliability. The ships first went to sea in the early 1980's, prowling the world's oceans in search of nuclear powered submarines belonging to the former Soviet Union. Their data is collected using the Surveillance Towed Array Sensor System (SURTASS) comprised of listening devices and electronic equipment that transmit the acoustic data via satellite to shore for analysis.

Navy tactical operations in littoral waters. Today, with the Cold War having thawed and the Soviet Union dismantled, these ships, operated by the Military Sealift Command and designated T-AGOS, now gather underwater acoustical data in support of U.S. The ships are operated and maintained by civilian contractors.ĭuring the Cold War, ocean surveillance ships prowled the world's oceans searching for Soviet Navy submarines. The T-AGOS ships operate to support the anti-submarine warfare mission of the Commanders in chief of the Atlantic and Pacific Fleets. Ocean surveillance ships have a single mission to gather underwater acoustical data.

Cold waters towed array