USS Interceptor (AGR-8)

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USS Interceptor (AGR-8).jpg

USS Interceptor (YAGR-8), ex-Edward W. Burton, moored pierside at Charleston Naval Shipyard, Charleston, S.C., c. 1955-56.

History

United States

Name: Edward W. Burton

Namesake: Edward W. Burton

Owner: War Shipping Administration (WSA)

Operator: R.A.Nichol & Co.Inc.

Ordered: as type (EC2-S-C5) hull, MC hull 3147

Builder: J.A. Jones Construction, Panama City, Florida[1]

Cost: $850.797[2]

Yard number: 107

Way number: 4

Laid down: 10 July 1945

Launched: 12 September 1945

Sponsored by: Miss Juanita M. Kaylor

Completed: 28 September 1945

Identification:

Call sign: AOHR

ICS Alpha.svgICS Oscar.svgICS Hotel.svgICS Romeo.svg[2]

Fate: Placed in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, Wilmington, North Carolina 20 June 1948

Status: Acquired by US Navy, 28 June 1955

United States

Name: Interceptor

Namesake: One who intercepts

Commissioned: 15 February 1956

Decommissioned: 5 July 1965

Reclassified: Guardian-class radar picket ship

Refit: Charleston Naval Shipyard, Charleston, South Carolina

Struck: 1 September 1965

Homeport: San Francisco, California

Identification:

Hull symbol: YAGR-8 (1956–1958)

Hull symbol: AGR-8 (1958–1978)

Fate: Placed in National Defense Reserve Fleet, Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet, Suisun Bay, California

Status: Scrapped, 16 February 1978

General characteristics [3]

Class and type:

Liberty ship

type EC2-S-C5, boxed aircraft transport

Tonnage:

10,600 LT DWT

7,200 GRT

Displacement:

3,380 long tons (3,434 t) (light)

14,245 long tons (14,474 t) (max)

Length:

441 feet 6 inches (135 m) oa

416 feet (127 m) pp

427 feet (130 m) lwl

Beam: 57 feet (17 m)

Draft: 27 ft 9.25 in (8.4646 m)

Installed power:

2 × Oil fired 450 °F (232 °C) boilers, operating at 220 psi (1,500 kPa)

2,500 hp (1,900 kW)

Propulsion:

1 × triple-expansion steam engine,  (manufactured by Filer & Stowell Co., Milwaukee, Wisconsin)

1 × screw propeller

Speed: 11.5 knots (21.3 km/h; 13.2 mph)

Capacity: 490,000 cubic feet (13,875 m3) (bale)

Complement:

38–62 USMM

21–40 USNAG

Armament:

Varied by ship

Bow-mounted 3 inches (76 mm)/50 caliber gun

Stern-mounted 4 inches (102 mm)/50 caliber gun

2–8 × single 20 millimeters (0.79 in) Oerlikon anti-aircraft (AA) cannons and/or,

2–8 × 37 millimeters (1.46 in) M1 AA guns

General characteristics (US Navy refit)[4]

Class and type: Guardian-class radar picket ship

Capacity:

443,646 US gallons (1,679,383 l; 369,413 imp gal) (fuel oil)

68,267 US gallons (258,419 l; 56,844 imp gal) (diesel)

15,082 US gallons (57,092 l; 12,558 imp gal) (fresh water)

1,326,657 US gallons (5,021,943 l; 1,104,673 imp gal) (fresh water ballast)

Complement:

13 officers

138 enlisted

Armament: 2 × 3 inches (76 mm)/50 caliber guns

USS Interceptor (AGR-8/YAGR-8) was a Guardian-class radar picket ship acquired by the US Navy in 1955, from the "mothballed" reserve fleet. She was reconfigured as a radar picket ship and assigned to radar picket duty in the North Pacific Ocean as part of the Distant Early Warning Line.

Contents

1 Construction

2 Service history

3 Decommissioning

4 See also

5 References

6 Bibliography

7 External links

Construction

Interceptor (YAGR-8) was laid down on 10 July 1945, under a Maritime Commission (MARCOM) contract, MC hull 3147, as the Liberty Ship Edward W. Burton, by J.A. Jones Construction, Panama City, Florida. She was launched 12 September 1945; sponsored by Miss Juanita M. Kaylor; and delivered to T.J. Stevenson & Co., 8 November 1945.[5][4]

Service history

She served several lines as a cargo ship until being placed in the National Defense Reserve Fleet at Wilmington, North Carolina, 20 June 1948.[5][4]

Acquired by the Navy, 28 June 1955, the ship was converted to a radar picket ship at Charleston Naval Shipyard, Charleston, South Carolina, and commissioned Interceptor (YAGR-8), 15 February 1956, Lieutenant Commander Boyd Lorenzo Hall in command.[5][4]

Interceptor was designed to carry the latest in long-range radar and communications equipment and to act as an ocean radar station ship. Following shakedown training she sailed from Charleston, 17 March 1956, en route to her new home port, San Francisco, California.[5]

Arriving via the Panama Canal, 11 April, the ship began a regular cycle of 3– to 4–week at–sea periods as a picket ship under the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD). Operating with search aircraft, Interceptor could detect, track, and report aircraft at great distances as well as control interceptor aircraft in the event of an air attack on the United States.[5]

Patrolling off the coast of Canada, she formed an integral part of North America's air early warning system. Reclassified AGR-8, radar picket ship, 28 September 1958, Interceptor, for the next 7 years, operated with NORAD, in forming an important link in the nation's defenses.[5]

Decommissioning

Interceptor was struck from the Navy List 1 September 1965, and placed in the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet, Suisun BayCalifornia,[5] where she remained until sold for scrapping, 16 February 1978.[4]