Alcor (AK 259) 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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USS Alcor (AK 259) Underway on 7 March 1953 in the Hampton Roads area. Photographed for the ship's commanding officer by the Atlantic Fleet Camera Party, Norfolk, Va. Photo No. FCP-11-5893-3-53 Source: Shipscribe |
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USS Alcor (AK 259) Moored to a buoy at Villefranche-sur-mer, France, on 5 October 1955 while supporting the U.S. Sixth Fleet. Photo No. USN 684638 Source: Shipscribe |
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USS Alcor (AK 259) Conducting underway cargo transfer operations with USS Achernar (AKA 53) on 20 March 1962, possibly for training purposes, in between FBM resupply runs to Holy Loch. A phone-distance line is over between the bridges of the two ships and a single cargo transfer rig has been set up between their two foremasts. Handling crews are standing by on both ships in formation. Alcor in 1960 received limited modifications to handle Polaris SLBMs but these are not apparent here. Photo No. USN 1060303 Source: Shipscribe |
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USS Betelgeuse (AK 260) Underway with crew manning the rail. As a commissioned naval vessel she is armed, in this case with four twin 40mm gun mounts, two at each end. According to www.ussbetelgeuse.org this shows the ship either going to or coming from the Naval Ammunition depot in the 1960's. Photo No. Unknown Source: U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command (L-file) |
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USS Betelgeuse (AK 260) In contrast to the later Victory ship FBM conversions (AK 279-282), Alcor and Betelgeuse did not initially have Number Three hold reconfigured for vertical missile stowage. This is the standard hatch cover on Number Three hold on Betelgeuse just before the hold was modified later in 1962 for vertical stowage. Note the hook for the heavy lift boom overhead. Photo No. None Source: ussbetelgeuse.org |
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USS Betelgeuse (AK 260) Alongside USS Hunley at Holy Loch, Scotland, on 14 August 1963. The submarine tender is using her hammerhead crane to lift a Polaris missile in its container over Betelgeuse's Number Three hold. Vertical missile storage facilities were installed in that hold in mid-1962. Altair, while fitted with her sister in 1960 to carry Polaris missiles in containers in her holds and on deck, does not appear subsequently to have received vertical storage facilities. Photo No. KN-8428 Source: Shipscribe |
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USS Betelgeuse (AK 260) At the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard in November 1971 after being laid up using an experimental preservation method in which the ship was completely covered from bow to stem by a single air-supported, plastic structure within which dehumidified air was circulated. The structure was ruptured in a storm a few years later and the ship was sold for scrapping. Photo No. USN 1149983 Source: U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command (L-file) |
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