USNS Hayes (T-AGOR-16/T-AG-195) was a Hayes-class oceanographic research ship acquired by the United States Navy in 1971.

She was named after Dr. Harvey C. Hayes, a pioneer in underwater acoustics and the former head of the US Navy Sound Division of Naval Research Laboratory.

In 1984 Hayes was laid up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, James River, Fort Eustis, Virginia.

Each buoy provided over 1500 acoustic channels of information that required extensive processing by two Cray IV computers also custom designed for the application.

Submarines to be used for test and development, and to be quietened by engineers using the data from the Hayes, would pass submerged through the three buoy arrays in the deep waters off Andros Island, Bahamas.