The Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVOCEANO), located at John C. Stennis Space Center in south Mississippi, is an echelon IV component of the Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command (NMOC) and comprises approximately 1,000 civilian, military and contract personnel responsible for providing oceanographic products and services to all elements within the Department of Defense.

It soon became apparent that the Depot would be unable to obtain and maintain an adequate supply of the latest data unless it undertook production of charts from its own surveys.

It began the U.S. collection of world magnetic data and contributed substantially to hydrographic, meteorological, botanical and geological knowledge of the explored regions.

By this time the Office's mission had expanded to include "the carrying out of surveys, the collection of information and the printing of every kind of nautical chart or publication."

By the turn of the century, pleasure cruises had become a popular form of vacationing, and suddenly the attention of the world was drawn to a new danger to navigation – ice.

The collision of the Titanic with an iceberg in 1912 prompted the Hydrographic Office to urge that an ice patrol be established to document sea-ice hazards to prevent such disasters.

This was the beginning of today's sophisticated, high-tech methods of surveying, measuring and recording ice thickness, ice-ridge profiles and other characteristics to monitor ocean-ice conditions above and below the surface.

To avoid interrupting continuous operations, oceanographers from NAVOCEANO relieve their fellow surveyors by flying to locations around the world to meet the ship.

The T-AGS 60 class ships were designed and constructed to provide multipurpose oceanographic capabilities in coastal and deep-ocean areas for NAVOCEANO.

Typical missions of the 329-foot-long (100 m) T-AGS 60 vessels may include oceanographic sampling and data collection of surface water, mid-water and ocean floor parameters; the launch and recovery of small boats known as hydrographic survey launches (HSLs); the launching, recovering and towing of scientific packages (both tethered and autonomous) including the handling, monitoring and servicing of remotely operated vehicles (ROVs); shipboard oceanographic data processing and sample analysis; and precise navigation, trackline maneuvering and station-keeping to support deep-ocean and coastal surveys.