USNS Watertown

Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation, SS Niantic Victory with her sister ships 1944
History
United States
Name	Niantic Victory
Namesake	Niantic, Connecticut
Owner	War Shipping Administration
Operator	American-Hawaiian SS Company
Ordered	as type (VC2-S-AP3) hull, MCV hull 100
Builder	Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation, Portland, Oregon
Laid down	February 12, 1944
Launched	April 25, 1944
Completed	May 18, 1944
Out of service	1948, Laid up Wilmington, then transferred to Suisun Bay.
Fate	Transferred to US Navy in 1960
History
United States
Name	USNS Watertown
Namesake	Cities and towns in the states of Massachusetts, New York, South Dakota, and Wisconsin
Acquired	by the Navy in 1960
In service	11 August 1960 as USNS Watertown (T-AGM-6)
Out of service	1971
Stricken	16 February 1971
Fate	sold 23 May 1974 and scrapped in Pusan.
General characteristics
Type	VC2-S-AP3 Victory ship then Watertown-class missile range instrumentation ship
Tonnage	4,512 tons
Tons burthen	11,500 tons
Length	455' 3"
Beam	62' 2"
Draft	28' 6"
Propulsion	cross compound steam turbine, single screw, 8,500shp
Speed	15.5 knots
Complement	56 personnel
Armament	1 × 5 inch (127 mm)/38 caliber gun as Victory ship 1 × 3 inch (76 mm)/50 caliber gun 8 × 20 mm Oerlikon As Watertown: No armament
Notes

USNS Watertown (T-AGM-6) was a Watertown-class missile range instrumentation ship acquired by the U.S. Navy in 1960 and converted from her SS Niantic Victory Victory ship cargo configuration to a missile tracking ship, a role she retained for eleven years before being placed out of service in 1971.

Victory ship constructed in Oregon

Niantic Victory was laid down on 12 February 1944 at Portland, Oregon, by the Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation under a U.S. Maritime Commission contract (MCV hull 100); launched on 25 April 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Marvin Owen; and delivered to the Maritime Commission on 18 May 1944. She was built is just 96 days under the Emergency Shipbuilding program by the War Shipping Administration.

Maritime service

World War II

From 1944 until 1957, Niantic Victory was operated for the U.S. Maritime Commission by a succession of contractor firms. Her first operator was the American-Hawaiian Steamship Line for service during World War II starting on 18 May 1944. She supplied cargo in the Pacific Ocean for the Pacific War. After the war on November 6, 1946 she was operated by Waterman SS Corporation as part of the Marshall Plan. On May 30, 1948 after completing her relief efforts she was removed from service and placed in the National Defense Reserve Fleet in Wilmington, N.C.. She was laid up till August 24, 1950, but with a new war starting in the Far East she was remove cleaned up and chartered to Union Sulphur and Oil Company.

Korean War

During the Korean War she was operated by the Union Sulphur and Oil Company. SS Niantic Victory served as merchant marine naval supplying goods for the Korean War. About 75 percent of the personnel taking to Korean from the Korean War came by the merchant marine. SS Niantic Victory transported goods, mail, food and other supplies. About 90 percent of the cargo was moved by merchant marine naval to the war zone. SS Niantic Victory made trip between 18 November 1950 and 23 December 1952 helping American forces engaged against Communist aggression in South Korea. At the end of the war on 8 April 1955 her operator was changed to Pope and Talbot SS Company. On 11 December 1956 operator was changed to Isbrandtsen Company till 1957. She was laid up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet in Suisun Bay, Benecia, Ca. on January 24, 1958.

US Navy

On August 11, 1960 she was transferred to the US Navy. She was reassigned to the Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS) for conversion to a Missile Range Instrumentation Ship. She conversion was complete on November 27, 1960 and she was renamed the USNS Watertown (T-AGM-6). She was lead ship of three ships in her class.

Missile tracking service

Niantic Victory was now the Navy Department Military Sea Transportation Service range instrumentation ship, USNS Watertown (T-AGM-6). For the next 11 years, she served in the Pacific Ocean in support of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the U.S. Air Force on the latter service's Western Missile Test Range. She operated as a mobile tracking station, recording test data from missiles and satellites out of range of land-based stations.

Watertown carried instrumentation to track and record flight events for military missile and NASA manned spacecraft, extending the coverage of the tracking network over the Pacific Ocean. She was slated at one time to be part of the Apollo 8 recovery team but was dropped from the program. In 1969, she called at Pitcairn Island.

Two other ships were reconfigured in to this new class, Watertown-class missile range instrumentation ship, the USNS Huntsville (T-AGM-7) and the USNS Wheeling (T-AGM-8).

Inactivation

In February 1971, the Air Force decided that it no longer required Watertown's services and she was removed from service. Her name was struck from the Navy list on 16 February 1972, and she was returned to the Maritime Administration at its berthing facility at Suisun Bay, California, on 23 May 1974. She was sold to Dongkuk Steel Mill Co., Ltd on 23 May 1974 and scrapped in Pusan, South Korea. She arrived in South Korea on 16 July 1974.

References

•  This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
• NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive – T-AGM-6 Watertown
• [1] According to Navsource, Niantic Victory was laid up, on 24 January 1958, in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, Suisun Bay, Benecia, Ca.