USS Protector (AGR-11)
![]() USS Protector (AGR-11), underway, 12 October 1960, place unknown.
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History | |
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Name | Warren P. Marks |
Namesake | |
Owner | War Shipping Administration (WSA) |
Operator | Shepard Steamship Company |
Ordered | as type (EC2-S-C5) hull, MC hull 2346 |
Builder | J.A. Jones Construction, Panama City, Florida[2] |
Cost | $1,006,824[1] |
Yard number | 87 |
Way number | 5 |
Laid down | 31 January 1945 |
Launched | 15 March 1945 |
Sponsored by | Mrs. E. M. Hinson |
Completed | 29 March 1945 |
Identification | |
Status | Acquired by US Navy, 1957 |
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Name | Protector |
Namesake | A guard or guardian |
Commissioned | 20 February 1957 |
Decommissioned | 28 July 1965 |
Reclassified | Guardian-class radar picket ship |
Refit | Charleston Naval Shipyard, Charleston, South Carolina |
Identification |
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Fate | Placed in National Defense Reserve Fleet, Hudson River Reserve Fleet, Jones Point, New York, 1 April 1965 |
Status | Sold for scrapping, 30 November 2005 |
General characteristics [3] | |
Class and type |
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Tonnage | |
Displacement | |
Length | |
Beam | 57 feet (17 m) |
Draft | 27 ft 9.25 in (8.4646 m) |
Installed power |
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Propulsion |
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Speed | 11.5 knots (21.3 km/h; 13.2 mph) |
Capacity | 490,000 cubic feet (13,875 m3) (bale) |
Complement | |
Armament |
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General characteristics (US Navy refit)[4] | |
Class and type | Guardian-class radar picket ship |
Capacity |
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Complement |
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Armament | 2 × 3 inches (76 mm)/50 caliber guns |
USS Protector (AGR/YAGR-11) was a Guardian-class radar picket ship, converted from a Liberty Ship, acquired by the US Navy in 1957. She was reconfigured as a radar picket ship and assigned to radar picket duty in the North Atlantic Ocean as part of the Distant Early Warning Line.
Construction[]
The third ship to be so named by the Navy, Protector (YAGR–11) was laid down on 31 January 1945, under a Maritime Commission (MARCOM) contract, MC hull 2346, as the Liberty Ship Warren P. Marks, by J.A. Jones Construction, Panama City, Florida. She was launched 15 March 1945; sponsored by Mrs. E. M. Hinson; and delivered 29 March 1945, to the Shepard Steamship Company.[5][4]
Service history[]
Operated by the Shepard Steamship Co., from 1945 to 1957, Warren P. Marks was converted Charleston Navy Yard, Charleston, South Carolina, and commissioned Protector (YAGR–11), 20 February 1957, Lieutenant Commander Glen Gettus Heller, USN, in command.[5][4]
After shakedown off Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Protector, homeported at Davisville, Rhode Island, reported to Commandant, 1st Naval District for administrative control and to Commander for duty and was assigned as an Ocean Station Radar Picket Ship in the seaward extension of the Eastern Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) Contiguous Radar Coverage System.[5]
Continuing her duties off the US East Coast, Protector was redesignated AGR-11 on 28 October 1958. She continued her radar picket duty until 1965. During the Cuban invasion in the spring of 1962, and the Cuban Missile Crisis in the fall, Protector operated in the Florida Straits and established a new radar picket station.[5]
On 10 February 1965, Protector terminated picket duty as the last picket ship to man Radar Picket Station No. 15 of NORAD Contiguous Radar Coverage System.[5]
Decommissioning[]
On 28 July 1965, she decommissioned at Bayonne, New Jersey, and was placed in the US Maritime Administration (MARAD) National Defense Reserve Fleet, Hudson River Reserve Fleet, Jones Point, New York, as an Emergency Relocation Center Ship, where she remained until she was towed to the Norfolk Naval Shipyard where her engine was removed. She was then placed for sale as scrap, with scrapping completed 30 November 2005.[5][4]
Military awards and honors[]
Protector's crew was eligible for the following medals:
See also[]
References[]
Bibliography[]
- "Protector II (YAGR-11)". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Navy Department, Naval History and Heritage Command. 25 August 2015. Retrieved 4 December 2019.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- "Jones Construction, Panama City FL". www.ShipbuildingHistory.com. 13 October 2010. Retrieved 4 December 2019.
- Davies, James (May 2004). "Specifications (As-Built)" (PDF). p. 23. Retrieved 27 November 2019.
- "SS Warren P. Marks". Retrieved 4 December 2019.
- "USS Protector (AGR-11)". Navsource.org. 11 April 2019. Retrieved 4 December 2019.
External links[]
- Photo gallery of USS Investigator at NavSource Naval History
- Liberty ships
- Ships built in Panama City, Florida
- 1945 ships
- World War II merchant ships of the United States
- Guardian-class radar picket ships
- Cold War auxiliary ships of the United States
- Hudson River Reserve Fleet