Name USS Interceptor Sponsored by Miss Juanita M. Kaylor Length 135 m Builder Panama City | Namesake One who intercepts Launched 12 September 1945 Tons burthen 9.761 million kg | |
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Ordered as type (Z-EC2-S-C5) hull, MCE hull 3147 Laid down date unknown, as Liberty ship Edward W. Burton Acquired by the U.S. Navy, 28 June 1955 | ||
USS Interceptor (AGR-8/YAGR-8) was a Guardian-class radar picket ship acquired by the U.S. Navy in 1955 from the “mothballed” reserve fleet. She was reconfigured as a radar picket ship and assigned to radar picket duty in the North Pacific Ocean as part of the Distant Early Warning Line.
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Liberty ship built in Panama City, Florida
Intercepter (YAGR-8) was launched as Liberty Ship Edward W, Burton by J. A. Jones Construction Co., Inc., Panama City, Florida, 12 September 1945; sponsored by Miss Juanita M. Kaylor; and delivered to T..J. Stevenson & Co. 8 November 1945.
She served several lines as a cargo ship until being placed in the National Defense Reserve Fleet at Wilmington, North Carolina, 20 June 1948. Acquired by the Navy 28 June 1955, the ship was converted to Navy use at Charleston Naval Shipyard and commissioned Interceptor 15 February 1956, Lieutenant Commander (LCDR) Boyd Lorenzo Hall in command. Boyd L. Hall
Radar picket duty
Interceptor was designed to carry the latest in long-range radar and communications equipment and to act as an ocean radar station ship. Following shakedown training she sailed from Charleston, South Carolina, 17 March en route to her new home port, San Francisco, California.
Arriving via the Panama Canal 11 April, the ship began a regular cycle of 3- to 4-week at-sea periods as a picket ship under the Continental Air Defense Command. Operating with search aircraft, Interceptor could detect, track, and report aircraft at great distances as well as control interceptor aircraft in the event of an air attack on the United States.
Patrolling off the coast of Canada she formed an integral part of North America's air early warning system. Reclassified AGR-8, radar picket ship, 28 September 1958, Interceptor for the next 7 years operated with NORAD in forming an important link in the nation's defenses.
Decommissioning
Interceptor was struck from the Navy List 1 September 1965 and placed in the National Defense Reserve Fleet at Suisun Bay, California, where she remained until sold for scrapping, 16 February 1978.