USS Interceptor

	USS Interceptor (YAGR-8), ex-Edward W. Burton, moored pierside at Charleston Naval Shipyard, Charleston, S.C., c. 1955-56.
History
United States
Name	Edward W. Burton
Namesake	Edward W. Burton
Owner	War Shipping Administration (WSA)
Operator	R.A.Nichol & Co.Inc.
Ordered	as type (EC2-S-C5) hull, MC hull 3147
Builder	J.A. Jones Construction, Panama City, Florida
Cost	$850.797
Yard number	107
Way number	4
Laid down	10 July 1945
Launched	12 September 1945
Sponsored by	Miss Juanita M. Kaylor
Completed	28 September 1945
Identification	Call sign: AOHR; ;
Fate	Acquired by US Navy, 28 June 1955
United States
Name	Interceptor
Namesake	One who intercepts
Commissioned	15 February 1956
Decommissioned	5 July 1965
Reclassified	Guardian-class radar picket ship
Refit	Charleston Naval Shipyard, Charleston, South Carolina
Stricken	1 September 1965
Homeport	San Francisco, California
Identification	Hull symbol: YAGR-8 (1956–1958); Hull symbol: AGR-8 (1958–1978);
Fate	Scrapped, 16 February 1978
General characteristics
Class and type	Liberty ship; type EC2-S-C5, boxed aircraft transport;
Tonnage	10,600 LT DWT; 7,200 GRT;
Displacement	3,380 long tons (3,434 t) (light); 14,245 long tons (14,474 t) (max);
Length	441 feet 6 inches (135 m) oa; 416 feet (127 m) pp; 427 feet (130 m) lwl;
Beam	57 feet (17 m)
Draft	27 ft 9.25 in (8.4646 m)
Installed power	2 × Oil fired 450 °F (232 °C) boilers, operating at 220 psi (1,500 kPa); 2,500 hp (1,900 kW);
Propulsion	1 × triple-expansion steam engine, (manufactured by Filer and Stowell, Milwaukee, Wisconsin); 1 × screw propeller;
Speed	11.5 knots (21.3 km/h; 13.2 mph)
Capacity	490,000 cubic feet (13,875 m3) (bale)
Complement	38–62 USMM; 21–40 USNAG;
Armament	Varied by ship; Bow-mounted 3 inches (76 mm)/50 caliber gun; Stern-mounted 4 inches (102 mm)/50 caliber gun; 2–8 × single 20 millimeters (0.79 in) Oerlikon anti-aircraft (AA) cannons and/or,; 2–8 × 37 millimeters (1.46 in) M1 AA guns;
General characteristics (US Navy refit)
Class and type	Guardian-class radar picket ship
Capacity	443,646 US gallons (1,679,383 L; 369,413 imp gal) (fuel oil); 68,267 US gallons (258,419 L; 56,844 imp gal) (diesel); 15,082 US gallons (57,092 L; 12,558 imp gal) (fresh water); 1,326,657 US gallons (5,021,943 L; 1,104,673 imp gal) (fresh water ballast);
Complement	13 officers; 138 enlisted;
Armament	2 × 3 inches (76 mm)/50 caliber guns

USS Interceptor (AGR-8/YAGR-8) was a Guardian-class radar picket ship acquired by the US Navy in 1955, 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.

Construction

Interceptor (YAGR-8) was laid down on 10 July 1945, under a Maritime Commission (MARCOM) contract, MC hull 3147, as the Liberty Ship Edward W. Burton, by J.A. Jones Construction, Panama City, Florida. She was launched 12 September 1945; sponsored by Miss Juanita M. Kaylor; and delivered to T. J. Stevenson & Company, Inc., 8 November 1945.^[5]^[4]

Service history

She served several lines as a cargo ship until being placed in the National Defense Reserve Fleet at Wilmington, North Carolina, 20 June 1948.^[5]^[4]

Acquired by the Navy, 28 June 1955, the ship was converted to a radar picket ship at Charleston Naval Shipyard, Charleston, South Carolina, and commissioned Interceptor (YAGR-8), 15 February 1956.^[5]^[4]

Interceptor was designed to carry the latest in long-range radar and communications equipment and to act as an ocean radar station ship. Following shakedown training she sailed from Charleston, 17 March 1956, en route to her new home port, San Francisco, California.^[5]

Arriving via the Panama Canal, 11 April, the ship began a regular cycle of 3– to 4–week at–sea periods as a picket ship under the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD). Operating with search aircraft, Interceptor could detect, track, and report aircraft at great distances as well as control interceptor aircraft in the event of an air attack on the United States.^[5]

Patrolling off the coast of Canada, she formed an integral part of North America's air early warning system. Reclassified AGR-8, radar picket ship, 28 September 1958, Interceptor, for the next 7 years, operated with NORAD, in forming an important link in the nation's defenses.^[5]

Decommissioning

Interceptor was struck from the Navy List 1 September 1965, and placed in the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet, Suisun BayCalifornia,^[5] where she remained until sold for scrapping, 16 February 1978.^[4]

References

^ J.A. Panama City 2010.
^ ^a ^b MARCOM.
^ Davies 2004, p. 23.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Navsource 2015.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g DANFS.

Bibliography

"Interceptor". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Navy Department, Naval History and Heritage Command. Retrieved 25 November 2019. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
"Jones Construction, Panama City FL". www.ShipbuildingHistory.com. 13 October 2010. Retrieved 25 November 2019.
Davies, James (May 2004). "Specifications (As-Built)" (PDF). p. 23. Retrieved 25 November 2019.
"SS Edward W. Burton". Retrieved 25 November 2019.
"USS Interceptor (AGR-8)". Navsource.org. 9 October 2015. Retrieved 26 November 2019.

External links

Photo gallery of USS Interceptor at NavSource Naval History

[FOOTNOTEJ.A._Panama_City2010-1] J.A. Panama City 2010.

[FOOTNOTEMARCOM-2] MARCOM.

[FOOTNOTEDavies200423-3] Davies 2004, p. 23.

[FOOTNOTENavsource2015-4] Navsource 2015.

[FOOTNOTEDANFS-5] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g DANFS.

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v t e MARCOM ships built by Jones Construction, Wainwright Shipyards, Panama City, Florida, during World War II
Type EC2-S-C1 ships "Liberty Ships"	E. Kirby Smith Newton D. Baker John Bascom William J. Bryan Joseph M. Medill Elihu Root John Hay Dwight L. Moody Peter Zenger Harriet Hosmer Duncan U. Fletcher Dolly Madison Robert Lansing Victor Herbert Julius Rosenwald Walter L. Fleming Salvador Brau Harold T. Andrews Russell Sage William W. Loring Minnie M. Fiske John W. Griffiths Augustus Saint-Gaudens John M. Brooke Rebecca Lukens Alanson B. Houghton Samuel G. French Thomas LeValley Josephine Shaw Lowell Richard V. Oulahan James H. Kimball Stephen Furdek Jean Ribaut LeBaron Russell Briggs Howard Gray H. H. Raymond T. A. Johnston M. Michael Edelstein William D. Bloxham Nick Stoner William E. Dodd J. H. Drummond William L. Watson John R. McQuigg Carl E. Ladd Pedro Menendez George Ade Edward K. Collins C. Francis Jenkins Raymond V. Ingersoll Benjamin F. Coston William P. Duval Stepas Darius Alexander E. Brown Chief Osceola Richard Halliburton Samuel G. Howe Granville S. Hall Stephen Smith Charles D. Walcott Art Young Charles H. Marshall Ransom A. Moore Soter Ortynsky Bjarne A. Lia Wendell L. Willkie
Type Z-EC2-S-C2 ships "Army tank transports"	Mary Ball John Barton Payne Frederic C. Howe William B. Wilson Sarah J. Hale Nathan B. Forrest Stephen R. Mallory Edgar E Clark
Type Z-EC2-S-C5 ships "Boxed aircraft transports"	Frederick E. Williamson Michael James Monohan Charles A. Draper Rafael R. Rivera James W. Wheeler Raymond Van Brogan William J. Riddle Dudley H. Thomas John L. McCarley Vernon S. Hood Edwin D. Howard Wesley W. Barrett Warren P. Marks Frank O. Peterson Barney Kirschbaum Mary Cullom Kimbro James G. Squires James F. Harrell Claude Kitchin Francis J. O'Gara Frank Flowers Edwin H. Duff Joseph V. Connolly Walter W. Schwenk Charles H. Cugle Robert F. Burns Edward Burton Ora Ellis
Type T1-M-BT2 ships Tonti-class gasoline tankers	Tancred Tandora Tannadice Tantallon Tanova Tannaquil