Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 14, 1995 TAG: 9509140060
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium
In its new life, the 30-year-old boat will cruise the Chesapeake Bay and this resort city's shore as the Research Vessel Matthew Fontaine Maury.
The conversion was the idea of Michael E. Lyle, assistant division chairman of the geophysical sciences department at Tidewater Community College in Virginia Beach.
``The Navy decided they wanted to try and save this boat,'' said Lyle, a former Navy radar operator and Army paratrooper. ``They heard about my program, liked it and now we have a home for it.''
TCC has been taking its oceanography students to sea under a contract with Old Dominion University for its research vessel. But with an expanding program, the community college needed another vessel.
The patrol boat is valued at $150,000, but TCC got it free. ``We've promised them we'll take good care of it,'' Lyle said.
The patrol boat, built in 1965, is one of only two ships that remain of 139 that were built for duty in Southeast Asia. The other is on display at the Washington Navy Yard.
More than 100 of the boats were transferred to South Vietnam from 1968 to 1970. TCC's boat never went to Vietnam but was used as a training vessel.
The boat has few amenities. There's a refrigerator but no heater or air conditioner. Lyle hopes to acquire a heating system and put other equipment on board before the first cruise, scheduled for next month.
The college allocated about $30,000 to operate and maintain the boat. ``We have gotten some contributions from the community and hope for more,'' Lyle said.
by CNB