USNS ''Range Recoverer'' (T-AG-161/T-AGM-2/YFRT-524) was a

missile range instrumentation ship A tracking ship, also called a missile range instrumentation ship or range ship, is a ship equipped with antennas and electronics to support the launching and tracking of missiles and rockets. Since many missile ranges launch over ocean areas for ...

responsible for providing

radar Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...

and/or

telemetry Telemetry is the in situ collection of measurements or other data at remote points and their automatic transmission to receiving equipment (telecommunication) for monitoring. The word is derived from the Greek roots ''tele'', 'far off', an ...

track data on missiles launched from American launch sites. She was built during World War II as

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

U.S. Army ''FS-278'', and was acquired by the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest displacement, at 4.5 million tons in 2021. It has the world's largest aircraft ...

in 1960 as

miscellaneous auxiliary The United States Navy, United States Coast Guard, and United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) use a hull classification symbol (sometimes called hull code or hull number) to identify their ships by type and by in ...

and was converted into a missile tracking ship. She continued her missile tracking until being placed out of service in 1972, at which time she was reclassified range tender ''YFRT-524'', and eventually sold for scrap in 1974. However, she avoided the scrapyards and served as a fishing vessel until at least 2016.

U.S. Army

''FS-278'' was built for the Army in 1944, by the Wheeler Shipbuilding Corp.,

Whitestone, New York Whitestone is a residential neighborhood in the northernmost part of the New York City borough of Queens. The neighborhood proper is located between the East River to the north; College Point and Whitestone Expressway to the west; Flushing and ...

. ''FS-278'' was a Coast Guard-crewed Army vessel commissioned at New York on 25 November 1944 departing New York on 17 December 1944, for the Southwest Pacific where she operated at Peleliu, Palawan, etc. during the war. Command transferred to LT A. W. Engle, USCGR on 25 June 1945. From 28 August until 20 September ''FS-278'' transported General Douglas MacArthur's defense planning staff for the Philippine Islands. She was decommissioned 3 October 1945.

U.S. Navy

The ship was acquired by the Navy in April 1960; converted by Pacific Ship Repair,

San Francisco, California San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

; and placed in service with the

Military Sea Transportation Service The Military Sealift Command (MSC) is an organization that controls the replenishment and military transport ships of the United States Navy. Military Sealift Command has the responsibility for providing sealift and ocean transportation for all U ...

(MSTS) as ''T-AG-161'' on 22 June 1960.

Missile tracking activities

Named ''Range Recoverer'' on 12 July, she reported to the Navy's Pacific Missile Range in August 1960. At the time Navy had command and control authority over nearly all

Vandenberg Air Force Base Vandenberg may refer to: * Vandenberg (surname), including a list of people with the name * USNS ''General Hoyt S. Vandenberg'' (T-AGM-10), transport ship in the United States Navy, sank as an artificial reef in Key West, Florida * Vandenberg S ...

launches and the range.From May 1958 until transfer of range facilities ordered 16 November 1963 and effective 1 July 1964 the Pacific Missile Range was under Navy. ''Range Recoverer'' transferred to the Atlantic before the range was transferred to Air Force and was never an Air Force Western Test Range ship. On 27 November she was reclassified a missile range instrumentation ship and designated T-AGM-2. She is equipped with telemetry, data processing and radio instruments as well as recovery facilities to retrieve

nose cone A nose cone is the conically shaped forwardmost section of a rocket, guided missile or aircraft, designed to modulate oncoming fluid dynamics, airflow behaviors and minimize aerodynamic drag. Nose cones are also designed for submerged wat ...

s. Crewed by the

Civil Service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

of the

, ''Range Recoverer'' served first as a telemetry and recovery ship on the Pacific Missile Range where she launched, tested, and evaluated the

Regulus missile The SSM-N-8A Regulus, also known as the Regulus I and RGM-6, is a nuclear-capable turbojet-powered second generation cruise missile operated by the US Navy between 1955 and 1964. Its development was an outgrowth of U.S. Navy tests conducted wi ...

. In July 1962 ''Range Recoverer'' shifted to

Little Creek, Virginia Little is a synonym for small size and may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Little'' (album), 1990 debut album of Vic Chesnutt * ''Little'' (film), 2019 American comedy film *The Littles, a series of children's novels by American author John P ...

, to support the

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

facility at

Wallops Island, Virginia Wallops Island is a island in Accomack County, Virginia, part of the Virginia Barrier Islands that stretch along the eastern seaboard of the United States. It is just south of Chincoteague Island, a popular tourist destination. Wallops Isla ...

. NASA technical party operators used on board equipment, including helix antennas, data recording systems and a communications suite with direction finders to locate and recover payloads. There she replaced two T-1 tankers, ''Dumont'' and ''Whitlock'', damaged during a storm. Since that time, into 1970, ''Range Recoverer'' operated out of Little Creek primarily between Wallops Island and the splash down area near

Bermuda Bermuda is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The closest land outside the territory is in the American state of North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. Bermuda is an ...

Other services provided

During the mid-sixties the ship traveled to Greece for coordinated research on a solar eclipse and was visited by the Greek royal family. NASA, assisting other government agencies, has also loaned ''Range Recoverer'' to the

Virginia Institute of Marine Science The Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) is one of the largest marine research and education centers in the United States. Founded in 1940, VIMS is unique among marine science institutions in its legal mandate to provide research, educatio ...

and the

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI, acronym pronounced ) is a private, nonprofit research and higher education facility dedicated to the study of marine science and engineering. Established in 1930 in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, it i ...

, to conduct oceanographic surveys off the coast of

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

Final disposition

''Range Recoverer'' was placed out-of-service in 1972 and reclassified as range tender ''YFRT-524''. She was struck from the

Navy List A Navy Directory, Navy List or Naval Register is an official list of naval officers, their ranks and seniority, the ships which they command or to which they are appointed, etc., that is published by the government or naval authorities of a co ...

(unknown date) and sold for scrap 1 November 1974. Despite being sold for scrap, ''Range Recoverer'' remained extant until at least 2016 as the Virginia-based fishing vessel ''Reedville''.

Footnotes

References

*
NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive - T-AG-161 / T-AGM-2 / YFRT-524 Range Recoverer
{{DEFAULTSORT:Range Recoverer Ships of the United States Army Design 381 coastal freighters Ships built in Queens, New York 1944 ships Missile range instrumentation ships of the United States Navy Cold War auxiliary ships of the United States Signals intelligence Research vessels of the United States Navy Maritime vessels related to spaceflight