Explorer-class surveillance ship
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name | Explorer class |
| Builders | Austal USA, Mobile, Alabama |
| Operators | File:Flag of the United States Navy (official).svg United States Navy |
| Preceded by | Impeccable class |
| Cost | |
| Planned | 7 |
| Building | 0 |
| Completed | 0 |
| Canceled | 0 |
| Active | 0 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement | 8,500 tons |
| Length | 356 ft (109 m) |
| Crew | 68 |
| Sensors & processing systems | SURTASS passive and active low frequency sonar arrays |
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The Explorer-class ocean surveillance ship is a planned class of United States Navy special mission-support ship. Also known as the T-AGOS 25 program, the ships are planned to replace five other ocean surveillance ships and is speculated to be in response to modernized submarines from Russia and China.[2] The ships will be SWATH catamarans, and carry SURTASS towed array sonar for anti-submarine warfare,[1] as well as collecting acoustic data for the IUSS submarine detection system.[2]
History
[edit | edit source]On 18 May 2023, the Navy awarded US$3.2 billion to the Austal USA shipyard in Mobile, Alabama to construct seven Explorer-class vessels. On May 30, 2024, the Navy awarded an additional $516 million to account for cost growth on the procurement of the first ship.[1] On 10 January 2025, Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro named the first two ships the USNS Don Walsh (T-AGOS 25) and the USNS Victor Vescovo (T-AGOS 26) after undersea explorers Don Walsh and Victor Vescovo, both of whom dove to the deepest known point on Earth's seabed, Challenger Deep.[3]
Similar ship classes
[edit | edit source]The Explorer class is similar in construction to the earlier Victorious and the Impeccable-class ocean surveillance ships, with all three classes of ship using SWATH type hulls. The Explorer class is designed to replace both classes of ship.[4]
References
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