USNS Sands
USNS Sands pierside, outboard of USNS Lynch | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| United States | |
| Name | Sands |
| Namesake | Rear Admiral Benjamin F. Sands and his son Rear Admiral James H. Sands |
| Builder | Marietta Manufacturing. Company, Point Pleasant, West Virginia |
| Yard number | 911 |
| Laid down | 23 August 1962 |
| Launched | 14 September 1963 |
| Sponsored by | Miss Priscilla G. Sands |
| Acquired | 2 February 1965 |
| In service | 2 February 1965 |
| Out of service | 1973 |
| Identification | T-AGOR-6 |
| Fate | transferred to Brazil, 5 December 1990 |
Almirante Câmara in 1974 | |
| Brazil | |
| Name | Almirante Camara |
| Namesake | Admiral Antônio Alves Câmara Junior |
| Acquired |
|
| Commissioned | 1 July 1974 |
| Decommissioned | 7 August 2003 |
| Identification |
|
| Fate | Sold at auction 2004 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Robert D. Conrad-class oceanographic research ship |
| Displacement |
|
| Length | 209 ft (63.7 m) |
| Beam | 40 ft (12.2 m) |
| Draft | 16 ft (4.9 m) |
| Propulsion | Diesel-electric, single propeller, 2,500 shp (1,900 kW), retractable azimuth-compensating bow thruster |
| Speed | 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) |
| Complement | 23 civilian mariners, 38 scientists |
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USNS Sands (T-AGOR-6) was a Robert D. Conrad-class oceanographic research ship operated by the Military Sealift Command (MSC) for the Naval Oceanographic Office from 1965 to 1973. During that period she provided ocean-bottom information and underwater test data to the U.S. Navy and other U.S. agencies. The ship was the second naval vessel to be named for Rear Admiral Benjamin F. Sands and his son Rear Admiral James H. Sands, the first being the destroyer Sands (DD-243). The ship operated in the Atlantic on oceanographic and geophysical assignments for the Oceanographic Office and other agencies.
In 1974 the ship was leased to Brazil, renamed Almirante Camara and in 1990 Brazil purchased the ship under the Security Assistance Program. Almirante Camara was engaged in oceanographic work for Brazil in the South Atlantic until retirement in 2003.