View source for USNS Watertown

{{short description|American tracking ship}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2022}}
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|Ship image=OregonShipbuildingCorporation1944.jpg
|Ship caption=Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation, SS ''Niantic Victory'' with her sister ships 1944
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|Ship country=United States
|Ship flag={{USN flag|1945}}
|Ship name= ''Niantic Victory''
|Ship namesake= [[Niantic, Connecticut|Niantic]], Connecticut
| Ship owner    = [[War Shipping Administration]]    
|Ship operator= [[American-Hawaiian Steamship Company]]
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|Ship ordered=as type (VC2-S-AP3) hull, [[Maritime Commission|MCV]] hull 100   
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|Ship builder=[[Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation]], [[Portland, Oregon]]       
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|Ship laid down=12 February 1944
|Ship launched= 25 April 1944
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|Ship completed=  18 May 1944       
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|Ship out of service= 1948, Laid up Wilmington, then transferred to Suisun Bay.            
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|Ship fate= Transferred to US Navy in 1960
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|Ship country=United States
|Ship flag= {{USN flag|1971}}
|Ship name=   ''Watertown''
|Ship namesake=   Cities and towns in the states of [[Watertown, Massachusetts|Watertown]], Massachusetts, [[Watertown (city), New York|Watertown]], New York, [[Watertown, South Dakota|Watertown]], South Dakota, [[Watertown, Wisconsin|Watertown]], Wisconsin, and [[Watertown, Connecticut|Watertown]], Connecticut
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|Ship acquired=by the Navy in 1960
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|Ship in service=11 August 1960 as USNS ''Watertown'' (T-AGM-6)
|Ship out of service=1971
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|Ship struck=16 February 1971
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|Ship fate=Sold for scrapping, 23 May 1974
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{{Infobox ship characteristics
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|Ship class= * [[Victory ship]] type VC2-S-AP2, standard
*[[Watertown-class missile range instrumentation ship|''Watertown''-class]] [[missile range instrumentation ship]]
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| Ship tonnage = {{Victory ship tonnage}}
| Ship displacement = {{Victory ship displacement}}
| Ship length = {{Victory ship length}}
| Ship beam = {{Victory ship beam}}
| Ship draft = {{Victory ship draft}}
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| Ship power = {{Victory ship power 6000}}
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'''USNS ''Watertown'' (T-AGM-6)''' was a [[Watertown-class missile range instrumentation ship|''Watertown''-class]] [[missile range instrumentation ship]] acquired by the [[United States 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 in 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 Company]] 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 6 November 1946 she was operated by Waterman SS Corporation as part of the [[Marshall Plan]]. On 30 May 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 24 August 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]].<ref>[http://koreanwar-educator.org/topics/merchant_marine/index.htm Korean War Educator, Merchant Marine, Accounts of the Korean War]</ref><ref>Paul M. Edwards, ''Small United States and United Nations Warships in the Korean War'', p. 118,</ref> 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 [[American Export-Isbrandtsen Lines|Isbrandtsen Company]] till 1957.  She was laid up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet in [[Suisun Bay]], Benicia, Calif., on 24 January 1958.

==US Navy==
On 11 August 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. Conversion was completed 27 November 1960 and she was renamed the USNS ''Watertown'' (T-AGM-6). She was [[lead ship]] of three ships in her class.<ref>[http://www.navsource.org/archives/09/53/5306.htm USNS Watertown (T-AGM-6)], ''NavSource Online''.</ref>

==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 Range (USAF)|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 crewed 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]].<ref>Paul Silverstone, ''The Navy of the Nuclear Age, 1947–2007''</ref>{{page needed|date=June 2022}}

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 Directory]] on 16 February 1972, and she was returned to the Maritime Administration at its berthing facility at [[Suisun Bay]], California, on 23 May 1974.{{citation needed|date=September 2019}} She was sold to Dongkuk Steel Mill Co., Ltd on 23 May 1974 and scrapped in [[Pusan]], [[South Korea]].{{citation needed|date=September 2019}} She arrived in South Korea on 16 July 1974.{{citation needed|date=September 2019}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/w4/watertown.htm}} 
* [http://www.navsource.org/archives/09/53/5306.htm Service Ship Photo Archive – T-AGM-6 Watertown], ''NavSource Online''
* [1] According to ''NavSource Online'', ''Niantic Victory'' was laid up on 24 January 1958, in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, Suisun Bay, Benicia, Calif.

{{Watertown class missile instrumentation ships}}
{{Missile range instrumentation ship (T-AGM)}}
{{MARCOMships}}
{{Victory ships}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Watertown (T-AGM-6)}}
[[Category:Victory ships]]
[[Category:Ships built in Portland, Oregon]]
[[Category:1944 ships]]
[[Category:World War II merchant ships of the United States]]
[[Category:Missile range instrumentation ships of the United States Navy]]
[[Category:Watertown-class missile range instrumentation ships]]
[[Category:Cold War auxiliary ships of the United States]]
[[Category:Ships of American Export-Isbrandtsen Lines]]