Oxford-class research ship

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

The Oxford class was a group of three U.S. Navy technical research ships converted in the early 1960s from World War II vessels to serve as mobile listening platforms for the National Security Agency. Built in 1945 by the New England Shipbuilding Corporation, the ships began life as Victory ships and were redesigned for global eavesdropping. They were similar to the Belmont class, but the Oxford ships were converted from Victory ships rather than Liberty ships. The three vessels were in service from 1945 to 1969. They displaced about 8,345 tons light and up to 11,365 tons full load, were about 442 feet long, 57 feet wide, and drew roughly 23 feet. Propulsion came from two boilers feeding a 3‑cylinder triple‑expansion engine with about 2,500 shaft horsepower to a single four‑blade propeller, giving a speed of around 11 knots. The crew was about 213 people, and the ships carried four .50‑caliber machine guns. Three ships were completed, and the Oxford class was later succeeded by the Belmont class.