USNS Kingsport (T-AG 164) on 25 January 1963.
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Class: KINGSPORT (T-AG 164, VC2-S-AP3)
Design: SCB Project No. 225, conversion of MC VC2-S-AP3
Displacement (tons): 7,190 light, 10,680 full
Dimensions (feet): 455' oa, 444' wl, 435' pp x 62' e/wl x 22'
Armament: none
Accommodations: 14 officers, 50 unlicensed, a 41-man Navy technical group and 15 civilian technicians
Speed (kts.): 15.2
Propulsion (HP): 8,500
Machinery: Geared steam turbines, 2 boilers (465psi/750deg), 1 screw
Construction:
| AG | Name | Reclas | Builder | Keel | Launch | Svc |
| 164 | KINGSPORT | 14 Nov 1961 | California SB | 4 Apr 1944 | 29 May 1944 | 8 Dec 1962 |
Disposition:
| AG | Name | T | Inact | Strike | Disposal | Fate | MA Sale |
| 164 | KINGSPORT | T | 22 Nov 1983 | 31 Jan 1984 | 23 Sep 1991 | MA/T | 30 Oct 1991 |
Class Notes:
This ship entered Navy service in 1950 as a unit of the GREENVILLE VICTORY (T-AK 237) class, and her history before her AG conversion is described on the page for that class. She was a Victory ship of the VC2-S-AP3 type and served as a MSTS cargo ship until 1961.
In 1959, the Department of Defense authorized development of the first operational satellite communications system, called ADVENT. The program called for developing three 1-ton stabilized, high-powered microwave satellites and placing them in geosynchronous orbit in two years to serve as an active communications relay for all the military services. The management organization for ADVENT was a complicated one involving ARPA, the Air Force, the Army, the Navy, and NASA. The Army was responsible for the ground terminals and the Navy for the shipboard terminals.
On 20 July 1960 CNO requested a feasibility and cost study for a conversion of a Victory ship to a Satellite Communication Ship for use by the US Army Satellite Communications Agency of the Defense Satellite Communications Program in its project ADVENT. BUSHIPS developed a detailed plan for this conversion and for the Navy's participation in ADVENT, which CNO approved for planning purposes on 22 October 1960. CNO's plan envisaged a single purpose ship funded from ADVENT funds and under the operational control of the Army's ADVENT Management Agency. This agency accepted the plan and provided funds for contract design and advance procurement of long lead items for the conversion. In response BUSHIPS undertook as a matter of high priority the design and conversion of a MARAD Reserve Fleet VC2-S-AP3 Victory ship to a Satellite Communication Ship based on technical requirements obtained from the Army. BUSHIPS advised that it felt that this conversion would not require Congressional approval as part of a shipbuilding and conversion program since it was being undertaken as part of a single research project funded with research funds. On 10 November 1960 BUSHIPS sought concurrence of CNO with these plans. Portions of "Detailed Specifications for Modification of Victory Ship Maritime Commission Design VC2-S-AP3 to Pacific Missile Range Tracking Ship AG(PMR)" were distributed within BUSHIPS to serve as a starting point for the design. As of February 1961 the required on-station date for the ship was 1 November 1962.
The mission of the Project ADVENT ship was to provide a shipboard communications terminal equipped to communicate with the ADVENT satellite and, to a limited extent, to control the position and orientation of the satellite. The ship's mobile surface station would supplement the Army's two fixed ground stations in demonstrating the feasibility of world wide communications using a 24-hour synchronous equatorial satellite. (The ground stations were at Fort Dix, N.J. and Camp Roberts in California, each of which had a 60-foot dish antenna.) The ship was also to determine the effect on signal propagation by varying the elevation angle, to determine the effect of natural and man-made interferences, and determine the effect of noise background when the signal was transmitted over water. During these experiments the Navy would also be evaluating the usefulness of the ADVENT concept to long-term Navy requirements and would be considering the characteristics of follow-on operational systems required to satisfy Navy operational needs. The ship would be operated by MSTS with naval personnel operating the communications equipment. The seakeeping ability of the ship would be improved by the installation of ballast and roll stablilization tanks. Space and weight would be reserved for the future installation of a helicopter landing platform. On 16 March 1961 the requirement for a facility for data capsule pickup by aircraft was added, and the helicopter platform was subsequently fitted.
Commander MSTS recommended that USNS KINGSPORT VICTORY (T-AK 239) be transferred to BUSHIPS cognizance for alteration and subsequent transfer to project ADVENT. BUSHIPS advised that as a satellite communication ship she would be reclassified as an AG while remaining under MSTS operation. On 12 May 1961 BUSHIPS made an initial inquiry about procedures for assigning a name for a Navy ship to be used in the Army's ADVENT satellite communication program. On 4 August 1961 OPNAV recommended that the name KINGSPORT VICTORY be changed to KINGSPORT when the classification was changed to AG. On 17 August 1961 the Navy awarded a contract to the Willamette Iron and Steel Co., Portland, Ore., to convert USNS KINGSPORT VICTORY (T-AK 239), the job to be completed by 1 April 1962. A Phase II conversion, the installation and check out of the ADVENT equipment proper, would follow in a naval shipyard. The Bendix Corporation became the prime contractor for the ADVENT system and associated hardware. Custody of the ship was transferred on 25 September 1961 (260001Z) from MSTS to BUSHIPS at the Willamette yard. Approved characteristics for a Satellite Communication Ship, SCB Project No. 225, were promulgated on 27 September 1961. On 14 November 1961 SECNAV approved and made effective the change in classification and name of KINGSPORT VICTORY (AK 239) to KINGSPORT (AG 164). The ship was moved by MSTS from Willamette to NSY Philadelphia 12-27 April 1962, and on 27 April 1962 custody of the ship was transferred to BUSHIPS at NSY Philadelphia for phase II of the conversion. Following completion of all phases of her conversion, KINGSPORT was recommissioned (placed in service) on 8 December 1962, with custody being transferred from NSY Philadelphia to MSTS for operation on 20 December 1962. External features of KINGSPORT included a 54-foot air-inflated radome containing a 30-foot dish-shaped parabolic radar antenna capable of automatically tracking a satellite at an altitude of 23,300 miles in addition to transmitting and receiving communications via a satellite. The ship also had a multi-element antenna forward for transmitting commands to satellites and receiving telemetry data from them, and a helicopter platform on the stern for personnel and data transfer.
The ADVENT program proved an abysmal failure and was canceled in 1962 after the expenditure of $170 million. The failure was blamed on many things, including the setting of requirements beyond the technological capability to meet them, but the fundamental reason was the impossible management structure. KINGSPORT came out of the shipyard in 1962 just in time for ADVENT program cancellation. She was then reassigned as the research ship for NASA's SYNCOM satellite program. The SYNCOM satellites were designed to work with the Army and Navy terminals from the recently defunct ADVENT program. The concept for SYNCOM, the first commercial experimental satellite to be placed in a geosynchronous orbit, was proposed by the Hughes Aircraft Company, turned down by DoD, and then awarded a contract by NASA in 1961. SYNCOM-I, launched in February 1963, did not achieve orbit. SYNCOM-II (launched in July 1963) and SYNCOM-III (in August 1964) succeeded and demonstrated the great utility of geosynchronous orbit for almost all subsequent U.S. communications satellites. After SYNCOM-II was positioned over Madagascar in the Indian Ocean, KINGSPORT made the first transmissions via the satellite while stationed off Nigeria and then then steamed to the Mediterranean for operational demonstrations with the U.S. Sixth Fleet. The first demonstrations of two-way satellite voice communication from an aircraft in flight to a ship under way took place on 2 October 1963 between KINGSPORT near Morocco and a Navy aircraft off the Virginia coast. KINGSPORT then proceeded to Guam and supported the launch of SYNCOM-III, which was placed in orbit over the International Date Line.
After the end in July 1965 of her role in communications experiments KINGSPORT provided support for NASA's Gemini manned space shots, serving as on-station communications ship between Okinawa and the Philippines for Gemini 5 from 21 to 29 August 1965. She then supported three more Gemini flights between 4 December 1965 and 16 March 1966 before returning to the West Coast in April. She remained at San Francisco from 18 April to 27 October 1966 in a ready reserve status. During November she steamed to the East Coast, and in early 1967 was at New York undergoing repairs and alterations. At this time she underwent conversion including removal of her large ADVENT radome (the telemetry antenna, moved earlier from its mast to the bow, had been removed by mid-1965) and became a bathymetric and acoustic survey ship for the installation and maintenance of the then classified Sound Surveillance System (SOSUS) under the unclassified name of Project CAESAR. Among the now published reports of the ship's work, declassified in 2006, is a description of the Indian Ocean exercise code-named BEARING STAKE that took place from January to April 1977. She was placed out of service on 22 November 1983. She was briefly transferred back to MSC for "scientific research" on 1 March 1990 although apparently not removed from the reserve fleet, leading to a second strike in August 1990.
Ship Notes:
| AG | Name | MCV | Notes |
| 164 | KINGSPORT | 20 | Ex KINGSPORT VICTORY (AK 239), completed 12 Jul 1944. From MC to Army 8 Apr 1948. To MSTS as AK 239 1 Mar 1950 (delivered 24 Mar 1950). Renamed KINGSPORT and reclassified T-AG 164 on 14 November 1961. To MA custody 29 Aug 1984. Struck again 20 Aug 1990. Transferred to Kings Point 30 Oct 1991 as a scrap donation under the Merchant Mariner Memorial Act of 1990. Departed JRRF 21 Jan 1992 to BU. |
Page Notes:
Compiled: 18 Oct 2021
© Stephen S. Roberts, 2021
Special sources: NARA: RG 19 Entry P 62 Box 75 (SCB 225); "From the Sea to the Stars: A Chronicle of the U.S. Navy's Space and Space-related Activities, 1944-2009" (www.history.navy.mil)