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 North American shipyards during World War II to replace losses caused by German submarines. They were a more modern design compared to the earlier Liberty ship, were slig ...

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, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. 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 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° East longitude in th ...

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 The United States Maritime Commission (MARCOM) 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, 195 ...

contract by

Permanente Metals Corporation Permanente Metals Corporation (PMC) is best known for having managed the Richmond Shipyards in Richmond, California Richmond is a city in western Contra Costa County, California, United States. The city was municipal corporation, incorpor ...

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

, 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. Maritime ...

. 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 (MARCOM) 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, 195 ...

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

Waterman Steamship Company Waterman is an American deep sea ocean carrier, specializing in liner services and time charter contracts. It is owned by SEACOR Holdings. History Waterman was founded in 1919 in Mobile, Alabama by John Barnett Waterman, Henry Crawford Slaton, ...

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 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 US m ...

(MSTS), 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 north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on th ...

, and the Caribbean. 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 veteran cargo ship arrived

Pusan Busan (), officially known as is South Korea's most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.4 million inhabitants. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economic, cultural and educational center of southeastern South Korea, ...

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republi ...

, 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. The Sixth Fleet is headquartered at Naval Support Activity Naples, Italy. The officially stated mission of the Sixth Fleet in ...

had landed

U.S. Marine The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through ...

s at request of

Lebanese Lebanese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the Lebanese Republic * Lebanese people The Lebanese people ( ar, الشعب اللبناني / ALA-LC: ', ) are the people inhabiting or originating from Lebanon. The term may al ...

President

Chamoun Chamoun, Chamun or Shamoun (Syriac: ܫܡܥܘܢ; Arabic: شمعون), is an Aramaic given name and family name and a variant of Symeon and Shimun. Notable persons with that surname include: List of persons with the surname Chamoun family *Camille ...

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, for cargo runs to

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former ...

, 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 ...

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 and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attribut ...

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-built Thor first stage and the Lockheed-built Agena second stages. They are thus cousins of the more-famous Thor-Deltas, which founded the Delta rock ...

rocket as part of the

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...

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 SARS-CoV-2, which causes the COVID-19 di ...

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 Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Sign ...

. 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) USNS ''Private Joe E. Mann'' (T-AK-253) was a acquired in 1950, from the U.S. Army, where she was known as the USAT ''Private Joe E. Mann''. In 1960, the Navy converted the ship to a and renamed her USNS ''Richfield'' (T-AGM-4). ''Richfield' ...

'' and the ''

USNS Dalton Victory (T-AK-256) SS ''Dalton Victory'' was built as Victory ship used as a cargo ship for World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding program. She was launched by the California Shipbuilding Company on 6 June 1944 and completed on 19 July 1944 as a Greenville V ...

''.

Final disposition

''Longview'' was transferred to the U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD) for lay up in the

National Defense Reserve Fleet The National Defense Reserve Fleet (NDRF) consists of ships of the United States of America, mostly merchant vessels, that have been "mothballed" but can be activated within 20 to 120 days to provide shipping during national military emergencies ...

, 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 is awarded to every member of the US Armed Forces who has served during any one of four ...

for the

Korean War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Korean War , partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict , image = Korean War Montage 2.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Clockwise from top: ...

References

*
NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive – T-AK-238 Haiti Victory – T- AGM-3 Longview
{{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