Name USNS Sword Knot Laid down Date unknown Launched 14 March 1945 | Namesake A name retained Completed May 1945 Length 103 m | |
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Acquired 30 May 1945, Maritime Commission Acquired 14 March 1957, U.S. Air Force Builders Consolidated Steel Corporation, Wilmington | ||
USNS Sword Knot (T-AGM-13) was a missile range instrumentation ship which operated as USAFS Sword Knot on the United States Air Force's Eastern Range during the late 1950s and early 1960s. Sword Knot operated under an Air Force contract with Pan American Airways Guided Missile Range Division headquartered in Cocoa Beach, Florida.
Sword Knot, assigned to the South Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean area, provided the Air Force with metric data on intercontinental ballistic missiles launched from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) in Florida as part of the Missile Test Project. It operated in the intercontinental ballistic missile re-entry area near Ascension Island, and was home-ported out of Recife, Brazil.
After transfer to the U.S. Navy's Military Sea Transportation Service, Sword Knot was reassigned to the Western Range and home-ported in Port Hueneme, California. There, she provided data on missiles launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base.