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Sub hunters celebrate 500th mission

WASHINGTON (USTCNS) --- It was the early 1980s and the height of the Cold War. America had boycotted the Olympic games in the former Soviet Union in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The world's largest ballistic missile submarine - the Typhoon - had just entered the Russian fleet.

Rising numbers and stealth technology advances in Soviet submarines led the U.S. Navy to build ocean surveillance ships. For the next 20 years, these ships prowled the world's oceans - providing the U.S. Navy with vital acoustic data to detect foreign submarines.

Military Sealift Command operates these ships for the Navy's Commander, Undersea Surveillance. MSC's USNS Bold pulled into Rota, Spain, July 12 - completing the Navy's 500th SURTASS program mission, or surveillance towed array sensor system program mission. SURTASS ships collect acoustic data using an array of hydrophones - underwater listening devices - deployed on a tow cable.

According to a statement from Commander, Undersea Surveillance, 500 missions equate to more than four million nautical miles of at-sea surveillance operations.

"SURTASS is a remarkably effective and reliable anti-submarine warfare asset," said Rear Adm. Malcolm Fages, USN, director of Submarine Warfare in the office of the Chief of Naval Operations. "I would like to commend the entire SURTASS organization for their dedication and hard work."

Acoustic data is gathered by civilian technicians and passed via satellite to fleet commanders to support anti-submarine warfare. Military personnel embark when the ships support tactical units directly - to analyze and relay information to commanders instantaneously and advise surface ships of the presence of submarines.

"I feel very lucky to have been the skipper of the ship to reach this milestone," said Bold's master Capt. Myron Joseph Bister. "However, it's the program and the people that fulfill the mission, which deserve the recognition . . . . it's what makes what we do special."

Dave Martyn, the program manager of MSC's Special Mission Program, Gerry Kirwin, of the Navy's Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command, and Cmdr. James D. Jeffreys, the Chief of Staff for Commander, Undersea Surveillance, met the ship in Rota to present Bold with a plaque in honor of the 500th SURTASS mission.

There was little time for the crew to celebrate, however. Bold departed shortly thereafter on another mission. (FROM MILITARY SEALIFT COMMAND PUBLIC AFFAIRS).

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