USS Interceptor (AGR-8)

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.

Liberty ship built in 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.

See also

* United States Navy
* Radar picket

References

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* [http://www.navsource.org/archives/09/62/6208.htm NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive - YAGR / AGR-8 Interceptor]