the molloy deep was discovered in september 1972 by the usns hayes (t-agor 16), the first of a new class of catamaran-hulled oceanographic research vessels. the molloy deep, molloy hole, molloy fracture zone, and molloy ridge were named after arthur e. molloy, a u.s. navy research scientist who worked in the north atlantic, north pacific and arctic oceans in the 1950s-1970s.