SS ''Haiti Victory'' (T-AGM-238) was originally built and operated as Greenville class cargo

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 ...

which operated as a cargo carrier in both the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. In 1960 she was renamed USNS ''Longview'' (T-AGM-3) and converted to use as a missile tracking ship which operated in the Pacific Ocean

Western Test Range The Western Range (WR) is the space launch range that supports the rocket launch site, major launch head at Vandenberg Space Force Base. Managed by the Space Launch Delta 30, the WR extends from the West Coast of the United States to 90° ea ...

until she was placed out of service and eventually disposed of.

Construction

''Haiti Victory'' (T-AK 238) was laid down under U.S. Maritime Commission contract by

Permanente Metals Corporation Permanente Metals Corporation (PMC) is best known for having managed the Richmond Shipyards in Richmond, California, owned by one of industrialist Henry J. Kaiser, Henry J. Kaiser's many corporations, and also engaged in related corporate activit ...

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

, California, 24 April 1944, under the

Emergency Shipbuilding program The Emergency Shipbuilding Program (late 1940 – September 1945) was a United States government effort to quickly build simple cargo ships to carry troops and materiel to allies and foreign theatres during World War II. Run by the U.S. Maritim ...

. She was launched on 20 July. She was sponsored by Mrs. Lucius Booner; and delivered to the

War Shipping Administration The War Shipping Administration (WSA) was a World War II emergency war agency of the US government, tasked to purchase and operate the civilian shipping tonnage the United States needed for fighting the war. Both shipbuilding under the Maritime C ...

(WSA) on 18 September.

World War II commercial operation

The ship's

United States Maritime Commission The United States Maritime Commission was an independent executive agency of the U.S. federal government that was created by the Merchant Marine Act of 1936, which was passed by Congress on June 29, 1936, and was abolished on May 24, 1950. The co ...

designation was VC2- S- AP3. During World War II she operated as a merchantman and was chartered to Waterman Steamship Company.

Acquired by the Navy as a cargo carrier

Acquired by the Navy 1 March 1950, ''Haiti Victory'' 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 ...

(MSTS), as a ''Greenville Victory''-class cargo ship, for cargo operations in the Atlantic Ocean. From 1950 to 1957, sailing from New York City, she made cargo runs to Northern Europe, the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

, and the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

. On 6 May 1953, she collided with the British ferry

Duke of York Duke of York is a title of nobility in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. Since the 15th century, it has, when granted, usually been given to the second son of List of English monarchs, English (later List of British monarchs, British) monarchs ...

, shearing off the ferry's bow, and resulting in the deaths of six passengers. On 15 June 1957, ''Haiti Victory'' sailed on her first MSTS cruise to the Pacific Ocean. Steaming via the

U.S. West Coast The West Coast of the United States, also known as the Pacific Coast and the Western Seaboard, is the coastline along which the Western United States meets the North Pacific Ocean. The term typically refers to the contiguous U.S. states of Cali ...

, the veteran cargo ship arrived

Pusan Busan (), officially Busan Metropolitan City, is South Korea's second most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.3 million as of 2024. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economic, cultural and educational center of southe ...

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

, 1 August. Following several Far East cruises, she resumed operations in the Atlantic in July 1958. Departing New York 11 July she steamed for the Eastern Mediterranean to support United States peacekeeping efforts in Lebanon. Units of the

U.S. 6th Fleet The Sixth Fleet is a numbered fleet of the United States Navy operating as part of United States Naval Forces Europe and Africa. The Sixth Fleet is headquartered at Naval Support Activity Naples, Italy. The officially stated mission of the Si ...

had landed

U.S. Marine The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionar ...

s at request of Lebanese President

Chamoun Chamoun, Chamun or Shamoun ( Syriac: ܫܡܥܘܢ; Arabic: شمعون), is a masculine given and family name of Classical Syriac and Arabic origin. It is mainly a variant of the biblical name Simeon, Symeon, or Shimon, which is derived from Hebre ...

who wished to prevent a coup against his regime by communist oriented insurgents. While operating in the Mideast, she twice steamed through the

Suez Canal The Suez Canal (; , ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, Indo-Mediterranean, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia (and by extension, the Sinai Peninsula from the rest ...

, for cargo runs to

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

, Pakistan. Returning to New York 3 January 1959, ''Haiti Victory'' made another Mediterranean cruise prior to assignment in the Pacific. Arriving San Francisco, California, 4 April she operated off the West Coast until sailing for Hawaii 3 months later.

Conversion to missile support

Helocopter-Landing-on-USNS-Longview-July-1966

Arriving

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Reci ...

3 July, she underwent conversion and training for a role in America's young space program. ''Haiti Victory'' found a place in history, when she became the first ship to recover a space vehicle from orbit. On 11 August 1960, her

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...

retrieved a 300-pound capsule that was launched into orbit the previous day by a

Thor-Agena Thor-Agena was a series of orbital launch vehicles. The launch vehicles used the Douglas Aircraft Company, Douglas-built Thor (rocket family), Thor first Multistage rocket, stage and the Lockheed Corporation, Lockheed-built RM-81 Agena, Agena ...

rocket as part of the

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

Corona Corona (from the Latin for 'crown') most commonly refers to: * Stellar corona, the outer atmosphere of the Sun or another star * Corona (beer), a Mexican beer * Corona, informal term for the coronavirus or disease responsible for the COVID-19 ...

spy satellite A reconnaissance satellite or intelligence satellite (commonly, although unofficially, referred to as a spy satellite) is an Earth observation satellite or communications satellite deployed for military or intelligence applications. The ...

project. ''Haiti Victory'' was renamed ''Longview'' and re-classified ''T-AGM-3'' on 27 November 1960. She continued operations in the Pacific Missile Range supporting the United States space program, performing a variety of scientific duties for the

U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its origins to 1 ...

. The ''Longview'' was lead ship in the new class, ''Longview-class missile range instrumentation ship'', two other ships followed in this new class the '' USNS Private Joe E. Mann (T-AK-253)'' and the '' USNS Dalton Victory (T-AK-256)''.

Final disposition

''Longview'' was transferred to the

U.S. Maritime Administration The United States Maritime Administration (MARAD) is an agency of the United States Department of Transportation. MARAD administers financial programs to develop, promote, and operate the U.S. Maritime Service and the U.S. Merchant Marine. In a ...

(MARAD) for lay up in 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 ...

, and on 27 April 1976 was sold for scrapping to American Ship Dismantlers."USNS ''Longview ''(T-AGM-3"
''NavSource Online'', 13 November 2020

Honors

She earned the

National Defense Service Medal The National Defense Service Medal (NDSM) is a service award of the United States Armed Forces established by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1953. It was awarded to every member of the U.S. Armed Forces who served during any one of four s ...

for the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Haiti Victory (T-AK-238) Victory ships Ships built in Richmond, California 1944 ships World War II merchant ships of the United States Ships of the United States Army Greenville Victory-class cargo ships Missile range instrumentation ships of the United States Navy Longview-class missile range instrumentation ships Cold War auxiliary ships of the United States Maritime incidents in 1953 Maritime vessels related to spaceflight