Range Recoverer (T-AGM 2) Class: Photographs
| These photographs were selected to show the original configuration of this class and major subsequent modifications. For more views see the former NHHC (now Hyperwar) Online Library of Selected Images and the NavSource Photo Archive. |
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USAF FS-Echo (E-42-1836, ex FS 292) One of the original six FS ships on the Air Force's Eastern Test Range with a radome over each bridge wing. FS Echo was the ship's phonetic call sign, not her name. Another of these ships, E-42-1834 ex FS 278, became USNS Range Recoverer (T-AGM 2). Photo No. None Source: mail.afspacemuseum.org/ccafs/ships/ |
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USNS Range Recoverer (T-AGM 2) Photographed on 20 July 1961. The radome over the starboard bridge wing in the Air Force ships has been replaced by a quadruple helix telemetry antenna. The wire stays supporting the masts look like steel legs in this view. Photo No. KN-2751 Source: Shipscribe |
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USNS Range Recoverer (T-AGM 2) Photographed by the Pacific Missile Range, Point Mugu, Calif., on 21 July 1961. Photo No. NH 88073 Source: U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command |
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USNS Range Recoverer (T-AGM 2) Photo published in the July 1962 issue of MSC's magazine with the statement that she "looks trim and sparkling as a yacht as she sails for the East Coast" to assume duty at Wallops Island. She sailed in March 1962 but the photo may have been of earlier vintage. The ship is carrying her Pacific Missile Range antennas. Photo No. None Source: U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command (MSC) |
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USNS Range Recoverer (T-AGM 2) Photo probably from April 1962 showing the ship at an unidentified location. She appears to have no antenna in the port bridge wing. Photo No. None Source: U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command (MSC) |
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USNS Range Recoverer (T-AGM 2) A photo printed by NASA and dated 1962, probably taken after arrival at Wallops Island in April 1962 for duty with NASA. Note the new single helix telemetry antenna without a dome in the port bridge wing. Photo No. None Source: U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command (MSC) |
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USNS Range Recoverer (T-AGM 2) A photo printed by NASA and dated 1963, with a clear view of her NASA antennas. This view was later published in the June 1966 issue of MSC's magazine with the statement that she was steaming toward her eclipse-observing station near Kalamai, Greece, on a NASA mission. Photo No. None Source: U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command (MSC) |
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USNS Range Recoverer (T-AGM 2) A photo printed by NASA and dated 1963. Photo No. None Source: U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command (MSC) |
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USNS Range Recoverer (T-AGM 2) A U.S. Navy photo provided to NavSource by Captain Robert W. Broom, the ship's master, who explained that "the log periodic antenna on the foremast, used for communications, can be tilted down for going under bridges. The quad helix antenna on the starboard wing and the single helix on the port are used for tracking missiles, and the whip antennas used for communications. Range Recoverer also had a state of the art sonar that was directional and could be tilted 2ยบ above the horizon to the bottom. One could see the navigation buoy mooring chains and channel when approaching a harbor, etc., and could also locate pingers on objects." Captain Broom and his ship won a FY 1969 MSC Smart Ship award. Photo No. None Source: NavSource |
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