USS Protector (AGR-11)

USS "Protector" (AGR-11/YAGR-11) was a "Guardian"-class radar picket ship acquired by the U.S. Navy in 1957 from the “mothballed” reserve fleet. She was reconfigured as a radar picket ship and assigned to radar picket duty in the North Atlantic Ocean as part of the Distant Early Warning Line.

Liberty ship built in Florida

The third ship to be so named by the Navy, "Protector" (YAGR–11) wag laid down by J. A. Jones Construction Co., Wainwright Yards, Panama City, Florida, as Liberty ship "SS Warren P. Marks" (MCE hull 2346) 31 January 1945 ; launched 15 March 1945; sponsored by Mrs. E. M. Hinson; and placed in service 29 March 1945.

Conversion to radar picket

Operated by the Shepard Steamship Co. from 1945 to 1957, "Warren P. Marks" was converted at the Charleston Naval Shipyard, and commissioned "Protector" (YAGR–11) 20 February 1957, Lt. Comdr. Glen G. Heller in command.

Radar picket duty

After shakedown off Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, "Protector", homeported at Newport, Rhode Island, reported to Commandant, 1st Naval District for administrative control and to Commander YAGR Division 21 for duty and was assigned as an "Ocean Station Radar Picket Ship" in the seaward extension of the Eastern Continental Air Defense Command Contiguous Radar Coverage System. Continuing her duties off the U.S. East Coast, "Protector" was redesignated an "AGR" on 28 October 1958. She continued her radar picket duty until 1965. During the Cuban invasion in the spring of 1962 and the Cuban Missile Crisis in the fall, "Protector" operated in the Florida Straits and established a new radar picket station. On 10 February 1965, "Protector" terminated picket duty as the last picket ship to man Radar Picket Station No. 15 of NORAD Contiguous Radar Coverage System.

Decommissioning

On 28 July 1965 she decommissioned at Bayonne, New Jersey, and was placed in the U.S. Maritime Administration Reserve Fleet, Hudson River, New York, as an "Emergency Relocation Center Ship", where she remained until she was towed to the Norfolk Naval Shipyard where her engine was removed. She was then placed for sale as scrap, with scrapping completed 30 November 2005.

Honors and awards

Protector personnel qualified for the following medals:
* Navy Expeditionary Medal (2-Cuba)
* National Defense Service Medal

See also

* United States Navy
* Radar picket

References

*
* [http://www.navsource.org/archives/09/62/6211.htm NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive - YAGR / AGR-11 Protector]