MV Retriever

MV Retriever was a World War II-era Landing Craft Utility transferred to NASA from the U.S. Army. It was used to train United States astronauts for post-splashdown ocean recovery operations and water egress from their command modules during the Gemini and Apollo programs from 1963 to 1972. It operated primarily in Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico.

MV Retriever in October 1966 (Apollo 1 training)
History
United States
Name	MV Retriever
Owner	NASA
Operator	NASA
Builder	Avondale Shipyards in New Orleans
Laid down	August 1954
Launched	1954
In service	1954
Out of service	1972
Fate	Transferred to the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS)
General characteristics
Class and type	LCT Mk 5
Displacement	133 short tons (121 t) 286 short tons (259 t) (landing)
Length	114 ft 2 in (34.80 m)
Beam	32 ft 8 in (9.96 m)
Draught	3 ft (0.91 m) forward 4 ft 2 in (1.27 m) aft (landing)
Propulsion	3 Gray Marine 225 hp (168 kW) diesel engines, triple screws
Speed	8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph)
Range	700 mi (1,100 km)
Capacity	150 short tons (140 t) cargo
Complement	1 officer, 12 enlisted

MV Retriever was one of 500 Mk V LCTs built (numbered, not named). LCU-15301 was acquired by NASA under a reimbursable loan agreement dated March 4, 1963, from the U.S. Army at Ft. Eustis, Virginia.[1]

The sides of the vessel's midsection were cut down, a new bridge built and a hoist added for NASA use. It was under the jurisdiction of the Manned Spacecraft Center's Landing and Recovery Division, and its captains included Frank M. Gammon, Sr., CWO, US Army and Dino E. Bernardi, USCG (1971–72).

In 1972, NASA transferred the MV Retriever to the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) in Gloucester, Virginia, where it was used to support marine research in the Chesapeake Bay area until it was retired.[2]