View source for USS Interceptor

{{Short description|Guardian-class radar picket ship}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=    USS Interceptor (AGR-8).jpg
|Ship caption=   USS ''Interceptor'' (YAGR-8), ex-''Edward W. Burton'', moored pierside at [[Charleston Naval Shipyard]], Charleston, S.C., {{circa}} 1955-56.
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=
|Ship country=United States
|Ship flag=  {{USN flag|1948}}
|Ship name= ''Edward W. Burton''
|Ship namesake= [[Edward W. Burton]]
| Ship owner = [[War Shipping Administration]] (WSA)
| Ship operator = [[R.A.Nichol & Co.Inc.]]
| Ship ordered = as type (EC2-S-C5) hull, [[Maritime Commission|MC]] hull 3147
| Ship builder = [[J.A. Jones Construction]], [[Panama City, Florida|Panama City]], Florida{{sfn|J.A. Panama City|2010}}
|Ship original cost=$850.797{{sfn|MARCOM}}
|Ship yard number=107
|Ship way number=4
|Ship laid down= 10 July 1945
|Ship launched=     12 September 1945
|Ship completed= 28 September 1945
|Ship sponsor= Miss Juanita M. Kaylor
|Ship identification = *[[Maritime call sign|Call sign]]: AOHR
*{{ICS|Alpha}}{{ICS|Oscar}}{{ICS|Hotel}}{{ICS|Romeo}}{{sfn|MARCOM}}
|Ship motto=
|Ship nickname= 
|Ship fate= Acquired by [[US Navy]], 28 June 1955
|Ship notes= 
|Ship badge=
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header= title
|Ship country=United States
|Ship flag=  {{USN flag|1965}}
|Ship name= ''Interceptor''
|Ship namesake= One who intercepts
|Ship commissioned= 15 February 1956
|Ship recommissioned= 
|Ship decommissioned= 5 July 1965
|Ship maiden voyage= 
|Ship in service= 
|Ship out of service= 
|Ship renamed= 
|Ship reclassified= {{sclass|Guardian|radar picket ship}}
|Ship refit=  [[Charleston Naval Shipyard]], [[Charleston, South Carolina]]
|Ship struck=  1 September 1965
|Ship reinstated=
|Ship homeport= [[San Francisco]], California
|Ship identification=*[[Hull classification symbol#Support type|Hull symbol]]: YAGR-8 (1956–1958)
*Hull symbol: AGR-8 (1958–1978)
|Ship motto=
|Ship nickname= 
|Ship fate= Scrapped, 16 February 1978
|Ship notes= 
|Ship badge=
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
| Hide header = 
| Header caption = {{sfn|Davies|2004|p=23}}
| Ship class ={{Liberty ship class C5}}
| Ship type =
| Ship tonnage = {{Liberty ship tonnage C5}}
| Ship displacement = {{Liberty ship displacement}}
| Ship length = {{Liberty ship length}}
| Ship beam = {{Liberty ship beam}}
| Ship draft = {{Liberty ship draft}}
| Ship capacity = {{Liberty ship cargo capacity C5}}
| Ship hold depth = 
| Ship power = {{Liberty ship power}}
| Ship propulsion = {{Liberty ship propulsion|7}}
| Ship complement = {{Liberty ship complement}}
| Ship armament = {{Liberty ship armament}}
| Ship speed = {{Liberty ship speed}}
| Ship notes = 
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
| Hide header = 
| Header caption = (US Navy refit){{sfn|Navsource|2015}}
| Ship class ={{sclass|Guardian|radar picket ship}}
| Ship capacity = {{Guardian class cargo capacity}}
| Ship complement = {{Guardian class complement}}
| Ship armament = {{Guardian class armament}}
}}
|}

'''USS ''Interceptor'' (AGR-8/YAGR-8)''' was a {{sclass|Guardian|radar picket ship}} acquired by the [[US Navy]] in 1955, from the "mothballed" [[National Defense Reserve Fleet|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]].

==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 & Company, Inc.]], 8 November 1945.{{sfn|DANFS}}{{sfn|Navsource|2015}}

==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.{{sfn|DANFS}}{{sfn|Navsource|2015}}

Acquired by the Navy, 28 June 1955, the ship was converted to a [[radar picket ship]] at [[Charleston Naval Shipyard]], [[Charleston, South Carolina|Charleston]], South Carolina, and commissioned ''Interceptor'' (YAGR-8), 15 February 1956.{{sfn|DANFS}}{{sfn|Navsource|2015}}

''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 cruise|shakedown]] training she sailed from Charleston, 17 March 1956, en route to her new home port, [[San Francisco]], California.{{sfn|DANFS}}

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]].{{sfn|DANFS}}

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.{{sfn|DANFS}}

==Decommissioning==
''Interceptor'' was struck from the [[Navy List]] 1 September 1965, and placed in the [[Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet]], [[Suisun Bay, California|Suisun Bay]]California,{{sfn|DANFS}} where she remained until sold for scrapping, 16 February 1978.{{sfn|Navsource|2015}}

== See also ==
* [[United States Navy]]
* [[Radar picket]]

== References ==
{{reflist|30em}}

== Bibliography ==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite DANFS|url = https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/i/interceptor.html |title= Interceptor |access-date= 25 November 2019 |ref= {{sfnRef|DANFS}} }}{{PD-notice}}
* {{cite web|url=http://www.shipbuildinghistory.com/shipyards/emergencylarge/jonespanamacity.htm|title=Jones Construction, Panama City FL|date=13 October 2010|publisher=www.ShipbuildingHistory.com|access-date=25 November 2019|ref={{sfnRef|J.A. Panama City|2010}}}}
* {{cite web|url=http://www.ww2ships.com/acrobat/us-os-001-f-r00.pdf|title=Specifications (As-Built)|last=Davies|first=James|date=May 2004|page=23|access-date=25 November 2019}}
* {{cite web|url=http://usmaritimecommission.de/query.php?datalist=1&typeofquery=Name%20of%20Ship&valueofquery=Edward%20W.Burton&code=B3147a|title=SS ''Edward W. Burton''|access-date=25 November 2019|ref={{sfnRef|MARCOM}}}}
* {{cite web
  | url=http://www.navsource.org/archives/09/62/6208.htm
  | title= USS Interceptor (AGR-8)
  | publisher=Navsource.org
  | date=9 October 2015
  | access-date=26 November 2019
  | ref={{sfnRef|Navsource|2015}}
  }}
{{refend}}

==External links==
* {{navsource|09/62/6208|USS Interceptor}}

{{MARCOM ships Jones-Panama City Shipyard}}
{{Guardian class radar picket ships}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Interceptor (AGR-8)}}
[[Category:Liberty ships]]
[[Category:Ships built in Panama City, Florida]]
[[Category:1945 ships]]
[[Category:World War II merchant ships of the United States]]
[[Category:Guardian-class radar picket ships]]
[[Category:Cold War auxiliary ships of the United States]]
[[Category:Wilmington Reserve Fleet]]
[[Category:Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet]]