USNS James M. Gilliss

USNS James M. Gilliss (T-AGOR-4) was a Robert D. Conrad-class oceanographic research ship acquired by the U.S. Navy in 1962. The ship was operated by the Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS now MSC) and managed by the Naval Oceanographic Office as one of the "Navy Pool" vessels serving various Navy laboratories and projects in the Atlantic Ocean. After active Navy pool service the ship was assigned to the University of Miami to operate as part of the University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS) fleet until 1979. James M. Gilliss was loaned to the Mexican Navy in June 1983 as an oceanographic research ship to become ARM Altair (BI-03). Mexico bought the ship December 1996 under the Security Assistance Act.