USNS Wheeling (T-AGM 8) on 12 August 1964.
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Class: WHEELING (T-AGM 8, VC2-S-AP3)
Design: SCB Project No. 205A, conversion of MC VC2-S-AP3
Displacement (tons): 4,512 light, 15,200 full
Dimensions (feet): 455' oa, 444' wl x 62' e/wl x 28.5'
Armament: none
Accommodations: 58 civilian plus 48 technicians
Speed (kts.): 17
Propulsion (HP): 8,500
Machinery: Geared steam turbines, 2 boilers (465psi/750deg), 1 screw
Construction:
| AGM | Name | Acq | Builder | Keel | Launch | Svc |
| 8 | WHEELING | 21 Jun 1962 | Oregon SB | 10 Apr 1945 | 22 May 1945 | 28 May 1964 |
Disposition:
| AGM | Name | T | Inact | Strike | Disposal | Fate | MA Sale |
| 8 | WHEELING | T | 31 Oct 1980 | 31 Oct 1980 | 12 Jul 1981 | Target | -- |
Class Notes:
FY 1962 included funds for conversion of a VC2 (Victory) type ship to an AGM. On 28-29 November 1960 representatives of OpNav, BUSHIPS, and BUWEPS met to discuss characteristics for the ship, which was to provide the Pacific Missile Range (PMR) with a mobile station with instrumentation for the acquisition, tracking and monitoring of missiles and satellites, range communications and missile control facilities, limited range surveillance and safety facilities, and the ability to recover data capsules. The FY 1962 AGM was to be similar to the FY 1960 ship (SCB Project No. 205, AGM 1) with an increase of 14 accommodations, improved habitability, and the addition of a helicopter facility (which resembled that in AGM 3). The initial proposal was to modernize and improve an existing AGM and initial draft characteristics were circulated on 6 December 1960, but as the operating schedules of these ships precluded availability for a timely conversion it was decided to reactivate and convert a VC2 ship instead. To bring the cost down from the estimated $12.2 million for a repeat FY 1960 ship to the target cost of $10 million for the FY 1962 ship some instrumentation (including some telemetry) was omitted and BUWEPS was asked to provide a "surplus" AN/FPS 16 radar and alter it for shipboard use, saving almost $2 million. The conversion included a recovery beacon direction-finding system, which may have been the large-diameter array visible on the top of the hangar. Draft characteristics for a Missile Range Instrumentation Ship (AGM), SCB Project No. 205A were again circulated on 6 February 1961, approved without significant change at the working level on 28 February 1961, and reviewed by the full Ship Characteristics Board on 2 March 1961. Approved characteristics for a Missile Range Instrumentation ship (AGM), SCB Project No. 205A, were promulgated on 8 March 1961 with a final change on 6 March 1963. The final change added the electronics needed to support the X-20 (DYNA-SOAR) program, which BUWEPS had requested on 13 December 1962.
On 10 October 1961 the Navy asked MARAD for SETON HALL VICTORY (MCV 686), a VC2-S-AP3 ship from the James River Reserve Fleet, for the conversion, but MARAD pushed back, stating that it had only 44 ships of this type left in the NDRF and that they were considered of high priority in the event of a national emergency. MARAD invited the Navy to use a AP5 Victory (ex APA) instead. However when the Navy pointed out that the characteristics had been written for an AP3 and that a change to an AP5 would cost much time and money MARAD relented and released the ship. Subsequently the Navy extended bidding opportunities to the West Coast, and on 14 February 1962 the Navy asked that if a West Coast contractor were the successful bidder for the conversion that SIMMONS VICTORY be provided instead, but SETON HALL VICTORY was the final choice.
On 19 March 1963 the name WHEELING and classification AGM 8 were assigned to the former SETON HALL VICTORY for service as a missile range instrumentation ship. As completed, WHEELING was capable of providing ground support function to astronauts over a wide range of the Pacific Ocean, tracking both missiles and space vehicles. With a tracking range of 32,000 miles, the ship could pinpoint positions to within about six-thousandths of a degree in angle and a few yards in distance. WHEELING also had the ability to communicate with astronauts in space capsules and was able to receive and record transmissions. The ship’s electronics system, which was the heartbeat of her operations, had an RCA AN/FPS-16 radar operating in the C-Band, the same type used to track all U.S. missile and space efforts. The system was modified to handle multiple frequencies simultaneously by adding VHF, Ku-Band, and X-Band communications transmissions to the system.
WHEELING was assigned to the Pacific Missile Range at Point Mugu, Calif., and initially supported the early unmanned Apollo missions. This participation ended before Apollo 6 in 1968. During the summers of 1972 and 1973 WHEELING spent about three months each year in the South Pacific conducting surveillance operations in the vicinity of the French nuclear test site at Mururoa Atoll, for which in 1973 she was nicknamed POCK MARK. The operations were conducted under the control of the Defense Nuclear Agency and the primary contractor was the Stanford Research Institute. In March 1973, between these two surveillance operations, an exercise was conducted in which WHEELING took station with a formation of missile ships and controlled drones launched from Point Mugu in attacks against the missile ships while monitoring missile performance as the ships fired against the drones. In effect she functioned as a mobile missile firing range for the training of fleet units far from congested close-in areas while evaluating the performance of their equipment.
Between April 1978 and February 1979 WHEELING served as a helicopter and logistics base ship for a radiological survey of 11 atolls and 2 islands in the northern Marshall Islands. The survey was part of a larger effort to determine possible residual contamination that might remain as a result of the United States nuclear testing program conducted at Bikini and Enewetak Atolls between 1946 and 1958. After a photographic survey conducted by EC-121 aircraft between July and September 1978 the radiological survey began on Rongelap Atoll on 18 September 1978 and concluded on Bikini Atoll on 10 November 1978. Two Navy SH-3G helicopters were deployed to the ship, one to perform the aerial radiological survey and one to provide logistical support for all groups involved in the survey, primarily transportation of equipment and personnel between the ship and shore.
On 19 August 1980 Commander Naval Air Systems Command authorized the Pacific Missile Test Center to deactivate WHEELING. On 16 September 1980 the test center advised that it could meet its requirements for range instrumentation without the ship. On 18 November 1980 DCNO (Logistics) authorized MSC to transfer the ship to MARAD custody. However on 26 November 1980 CINCPACFLT requested the use of the ship as a target hulk, and on 15 December 1980 CNO approved the request. Commander Third Fleet reported taking custody of the ship on 20 December 1980 and passed sub-custody to Point Mugu on 22 December 1980.
Ship Notes:
| AGM | Name | MCV | Notes |
| 8 | WHEELING | 686 | FY 1962. (Ex-SETON HALL VICTORY, compl. 21 Jun 1945.) Sunk as Harpoon missile target 12 Jul 1981. |
Page Notes:
Compiled: 18 Oct 2021
© Stephen S. Roberts, 2021
Special sources: NARA: RG 19 Entry P 62 Box 74; www.osti.gov/biblio/5801343 (1978 survey report)