RV Horizon
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 USS ATA-180 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | ATA-180 |
| Launched | 14 July 1944 |
| Commissioned | 27 September 1944 |
| Stricken | 1948 |
| Name | Horizon |
| Owner | Scripps Institution of Oceanography |
| Acquired | 1949 |
| Fate | Sold c.1968 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage | 505 GT |
| Displacement | 835 t.(lt) 1,360 t.(fl) |
| Length | 143 ft (44 m) |
| Beam | 33 ft 10 in (10.31 m) |
| Draft | 13 ft 2 in (4.01 m) |
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion | Single screw 1,200 shp (890 kW) |
| Speed | 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) |
| Range | 7,000 mi (11,000 km) |
| Complement | 45 |
| Armament |
|
RV Horizon, ex Auxiliary Fleet Tug ATA-180, was a Scripps Institution of Oceanography research vessel from 1949 through 1968. During that time she made 267 cruises and logging 610,522 miles (982,540 km) spending 4,207 days at sea.[1]
ATA-180 was launched 14 July 1944, was commissioned 27 September 1944 and served in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater. She was laid up in the Pacific Reserve Fleet and stricken from the Naval Register in 1948.[2]
Service history
As a tug the ship had an obscure history, without an entry in the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships and only the bare facts of her construction and deployment. The only mention of ATA-180 on the Naval History and Heritage Command web site is listing as part of Task Unit 1.2.7 (Salvage Unit)[3] at Operation Crossroads.
The ship became notable in her second career as one of the trailblazing postwar oceanographic research vessels beginning with her conversion in 1949.