To be broken up at Brownsville TX

Laid down in 1963 as the commercial steamship "SS Canadian Mail", this ship was aquired by the US Navy in 1977, converted into a Hydrographic Survey Ship and placed into service with the Military Sealift Command.

She served with the MSC until 1992 when she was deactivated, towed to Suisun Bay and placed into the Ready Reserve Fleet, where she remained until she was withdrawn from the RRF in 2003.

After failing to qualify for preservation as a historic ship in 2006, the "H.H. Hess" was sold for scrapping in 2010 and departed for ESCO Marine of Brownsville TX, in January 2011.