USS Interdictor (AGR-13)

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Name: USS Interdictor
Namesake: One who prohibits
Ordered: as type (Z-EC2-S-C5) hull, MCE hull 3142
Builder: J. A. Jones Construction Co. Inc., Panama City, Florida
Laid down: 18 May 1945, as Liberty ship SS Edwin H. Duff
Launched: 29 June 1945
Sponsored by: Mrs. Edwin H. Duff
Completed: 27 July 1945
Acquired: by the U.S. Navy, 5 June 1957
Commissioned: 7 April 1958 as USS Interdictor (YAGR-13) at Charleston Naval Shipyard
Decommissioned: 5 August 1965
Reclassified: AGR-13, 28 September 1958
Refit: Converted to a Radar Picket Ship at Charleston Naval Shipyard, Charleston, South Carolina
Struck: 1 September 1965
Homeport: San Francisco, California
Honors and
awards:
National Defense Service Medal
Fate: sold 13 June 1974 for non-maritime use
General characteristics
Type: Guardian-class radar picket ship
Tons burthen: 11,365 tons
Length: 441'
Beam: 59'
Draft: 22'
Installed power: two electric generators
Propulsion: Two 220 PSI boilers; Filer & Stowell Co., of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, three cylinder triple-expansion reciprocating engine; Single 4 blade, 18' 6" propeller; Shaft Horsepower, 2,500
Speed: 11 knots
Capacity: Fuel Oil, 443,646 gals; Diesel, 68,267 gals; Fresh Water, 15,082 gals; Ballast, 1,326,657 gals fresh water
Complement: 13 officers, 138 enlisted
Armament: two 3"/50 guns

USS Interdictor (AGR-13/YAGR-13) 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 Pacific Ocean as part of the Distant Early Warning Line.

Built as a Liberty ship in Florida

Interdictor (YAGR-13) was launched as Liberty ship SS Edwin H. Duff by J. A. Jones Construction Company, Inc., Panama City, Florida. 29 June 1945; sponsored by Mrs. Edwin H. Duff; and delivered to McCormack Steamship Company 27 July 1945.

World War II-related service

She carried aircraft until entering the National Defense Reserve Fleet, James River, Virginia, 17 October 1945, and except for brief cargo service remained there until being acquired by the Navy 10 May 1957.

Reconfigured as a radar picket ship

Renamed Interdictor and converted to Navy use at Charleston Naval Shipyard, she commissioned 7 April 1958, Lt. Comdr. J. P. Dordahl in command.

Fitted with the latest and best electronic search and tracking equipment, Interdictor sailed 2 May 1958 for shakedown training in the Caribbean. She departed Charleston, South Carolina, 18 July and sailed to her new home port, San Francisco, California.

Arriving 13 August, the ship assumed her role as an ocean radar station ship, part of America's vast early warning defense system. Operating with search aircraft, Interdictor could detect, track, and report enemy aircraft at great distances, supplementing land-based radar stations, and controls high-speed interceptor aircraft in case of attack. She also carried out weather reporting duties during her three to four week cruises in the Pacific Ocean.

Interdictor's hull classification was changed 28 September 1958 to AGR-13. She continued on radar picket patrols for the Continental Air Defense Command out of San Francisco until decommissioned 5 August 1965.

Inactivation

Her name was struck from the Navy List 1 September 1965 when she transferred to the U.S. Maritime Administration for lay-up in the Suisun Bay River Defense Reserve Fleet, San Francisco, California, where she remained until she was sold 13 June 1974. Her subsequent fate is not known.

Honors and awards

Interdictor personnel qualified for the following medal:

See also

References