USNS ''Wheeling'' (T-AGM-8) was a ''Wheeling''-class

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 ...

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 1962 and converted from her

Victory ship The Victory ship was a class of cargo ship produced in large numbers by American shipyards during World War II. They were a more modern design compared to the earlier Liberty ship, were slightly larger and had more powerful steam turbine engin ...

cargo configuration to a missile tracking ship, a role she retained for a number of years before being sunk as a target by

Harpoon missile The Harpoon is an all-weather, over-the-horizon, anti-ship missile manufactured by McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing Defense, Space & Security). The AGM-84E Standoff Land Attack Missile (SLAM) and later AGM-84H/K SLAM-ER (Standoff Land Attack M ...

s on 12 July 1981.

Victory ship built in Oregon

The second ship to be so named by the Navy, ''Wheeling'' was laid down on 10 April 1945 as ''Seton Hall Victory'' by the

Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation was a World War II emergency shipyard located along the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon, United States. The shipyard built nearly 600 Liberty ship, Liberty and Victory ships between 1941 and 1945 under the E ...

under a U.S. Maritime Commission contract (MCV hull 686); launched on 22 May 1945; sponsored by Mrs. Ross Mclntyre; and delivered to the Maritime Commission on 21 June 1945.

World War II-related service

From July 1945 to September 1957, ''Seton Hall Victory'' was operated for the U.S. Maritime Commission by a succession of civilian contractors, beginning with the Olympic Steamship Line and ending with

Pope & Talbot Pope & Talbot, Inc. was a lumber company and shipping company founded by Andrew Jackson Pope and Frederic Talbot in 1849 in San Francisco, California. Pope and Talbot came to California in 1849 from East Machias, Maine. Pope & Talbot lumber comp ...

, Inc. In September 1957, she was placed out of service and was berthed in

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 ...

James River The James River is a river in Virginia that begins in the Appalachian Mountains and flows from the confluence of the Cowpasture and Jackson Rivers in Botetourt County U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowli ...

with the

National Defense Reserve Fleet The National Defense Reserve Fleet (NDRF) consists of Ship, ships of the United States, mostly Merchant ship, merchant vessels, that have been Reserve fleet, mothballed but can be activated within 20 to 120 days to provide shipping during nationa ...

Conversion to missile tracker

Late in 1962, she was turned over to the Navy Department for conversion to a

. On 19 March 1963, she was renamed ''Wheeling'' and designated ''AGM-8''. On 28 May 1964, ''Wheeling'' was assigned to 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 ...

to be operated by a civil service crew in support of operations on the Navy's Pacific Missile Range. ''Wheeling'' spent her missile tracking years as a mobile tracking station, recording data on missiles and satellites that were out of range of land-based stations. For a number of years she remained on active service on the Pacific coast. Two other ships were reconfigured in to this new class, ''Watertown-class missile range instrumentation ship'', the ''

USNS Watertown (T-AGM-6) USNS ''Watertown'' (T-AGM-6) was a ''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 ro ...

'' and the ''

USNS Huntsville (T-AGM-7) USNS ''Huntsville'' (T-AGM-7) 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 the SS Knox Victory Victory ship cargo co ...

''.

Surveillance of French Nuclear Tests

During the summers of 1972 and 1973, Wheeling spent about three months each year in the South Pacific conducting research and surveillance operations in the vicinity of the French nuclear test site at Mururoa Atoll. The operations were conducted under the control of the Defense Nuclear Agency, with the primary contractor being the Stanford Research Institute

Inactivation and sinking

''Wheeling'' remained in service until (date unknown) and 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 ...

on 31 October 1990. However, during a naval exercise on 12 July 1981 she was assigned as target ship for Harpoon missile testing. She was struck by two Harpoons, one launched from a submarine and one from a P-3 Orion aircraft. A third Harpoon, planned for launch from a ship, was not launched. Details of how and when the ship sank, or was otherwise disposed of, are lacking.

References

* * # https://archive.sri.com/sites/default/files/brochures/apr-10.pdf {{DEFAULTSORT:Wheeling (T-Agm-8) Victory ships Ships built in Portland, Oregon 1945 ships World War II merchant ships of the United States Missile range instrumentation ships of the United States Navy Watertown-class missile range instrumentation ships Cold War auxiliary ships of the United States Ships sunk as targets Maritime incidents in 1981