USNS Coastal Sentry (T-AGM-15)

For other ships with the same name, see USS Somerset.
History
United States
Name: Somerset
Namesake: Somerset County, Maine or Somerset County, Maryland or Somerset County, New Jersey or Somerset County, Pennsylvania
Ordered: MCV hull 2166
Builder: Leathem D. Smith Shipbuilding Company, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin
Laid down: 9 October 1944
Launched: 21 January 1945
Sponsored by: Mrs. Fred Bradley
Acquired: 20 September 1945
In service: 20 September 1945, as Somerset (AK-212) (never commissioned)
Out of service: 2 November 1945
In service: 1964, as MSTS USNS Coastal Sentry (T-AGM-15)
Out of service: 1972
Renamed: Coastal Sentry in 1945
Reclassified: as a missile range instrumentation ship, 1964
Struck:
  • 5 December 1945
  • date unknown
Identification:
Fate:
  • 15 November 1951, resumed commercial operation under the house flag of the Matson Navigation Company
  • 17 February 1954 returned to the Reserve Fleet, this time at Astoria, Ore.
  • 10 May 1955, operated by the West Coast Trans-Oceanic Steamship Line for the Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS)
  • 19 October 1955 – 22 May 1956 inactive
  • 22 May 1956, served under MSTS, this time with the Coastwise Line
  • 28 September 1956, placed in reserve at Olympia, Wa.
  • 29 March 1957, retaining her name, she was operated by the U.S. Air Force as a missile range instrumentation ship (AGM)
  • 1 July 1964 reacquired by the Navy and reinstated on the Naval Vessel Register, Coastal Sentry designated as T-AGM (15)
  • 11 July 1968, delivered to the firm of Fuji Marden and Co., Ltd., of Hong Kong, British Crown Colony, at Fremantle, Australia, for scrapping
Status: fate unknown
General characteristics [1]
Class and type:
Type: C1-M-AV1
Displacement:
  • 2,382 long tons (2,420 t) (standard)
  • 7,450 long tons (7,570 t) (full load)
Length: 388 ft 8 in (118.47 m)
Beam: 50 ft (15 m)
Draft: 21 ft 1 in (6.43 m)
Installed power:
Propulsion:
Speed: 11.5 kn (21.3 km/h; 13.2 mph)
Capacity:
  • 3,945 t (3,883 long tons) DWT
  • 9,830 cu ft (278 m3) (refrigerated)
  • 227,730 cu ft (6,449 m3) (non-refrigerated)
Complement: unknown
Armament: none

USS Somerset (AK-212) was originally a U.S. Navy Alamosa-class cargo ship built for service in World War II, and was later re-acquired from the U.S. Air Force in 1964 as the USNS Coastal Sentry (T-AGM-15), a missile range instrumentation ship.

Built in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin

The third ship to be so named by the Navy, Somerset (AK-212) (ex-MC hull 2166) was laid down on 9 October 1944 by the Leathem D. Smith Shipbuilding Company, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin; launched on 21 January 1945; sponsored by Mrs. Fred Bradley, wife of the Michigan congressman;[2] acquired by the Navy from the U.S. Maritime Commission on 20 September 1945; and commissioned the same day.[3]

Inactivity due to war's end

Somerset was acquired for Navy use as a cargo ship; but, due to the cessation of hostilities with Japan, she saw no naval service. She was returned to the U.S. Maritime Commission on 2 November 1945, renamed Coastal Sentry, and struck from the Navy List for the first time on 5 December 1945.[3]

Service as an Air Force ship

Coastal Sentry was acquired by the U.S. Air Force and was used as a missile range instrumentation ship which operated as USAFS Coastal Sentry on the U.S. Air Force's Eastern Test Range during the late 1950s and early 1960s. Coastal Sentry operated under an Air Force contract with Pan American Airways Guided Missile Range Division headquartered in Cocoa Beach, Florida.

Coastal Sentry was assigned to the South Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean area, and provided the Air Force with metric data on intercontinental ballistic missiles launched from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) in Florida.

Coastal Sentry operated in the intercontinental ballistic missile re-entry area near Ascension Island, and was home-ported out of Recife, Brazil.

For the Gemini Program, it served as a primary tracking station (call sign CSQ) in the western Pacific.[4]

Acquisition by the Navy

Coastal Sentry was acquired from the U.S. Air Force by the U.S. Navy in 1964 which placed her out of service in 1972. Operational data while on U.S. Navy service on this vessel is lacking.

Inactivation

Coastal Sentry was struck from the Navy List (date unknown), and was subsequently returned to MARAD for lay up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet. Transferred to the Maritime Administration (the successor of the Maritime Commission) on 11 July 1968, the ship was delivered the same day to the firm of Fuji Marden and Co., Ltd., of Hong Kong, British Crown Colony, at Fremantle, Australia, for scrapping.[5] Coastal Sentry (T-AGM 15) was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 9 October 1969.[6]

References

  1. ↑ "USNS Coastal Sentry (T-AGM-15)". Navsource.org. Retrieved June 7, 2015.
  2. ↑ "To Sponsor Somerset". Daily Globe. Ironwood, Michigan. 22 January 1945. p. 7. Mrs. Fred Bradley, wife of Congressman Fred Bradley of Rogers City ... Bradley is a member of the merchant marine and fisheries committee.
  3. 1 2 "Somerset". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Navy Department, Naval History & Heritage Command.
  4. ↑ NASA SP-4203: On the Shoulders of Titans – Appendix F
  5. ↑ "Record of Ship sale and Ship Status Card for Coastal Sentry". US Maritime Administration. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
  6. ↑ "Inactive Ship History" (PDF). Naval Sea Systems Command - Inactive Ships. 28 June 2011. Retrieved 15 May 2016.


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 6/9/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.