USNS Michelson (T-AGS-23)

USNS Michelson (T-AGS-23) was a Bowditch class oceanographic survey ship of the United States Navy. Launched as the SS Joliet Victory in 1944, Maritime Commission hull number MCV 114, a type VC2-S-AP3 Victory ship, she was named after Albert Abraham Michelson. The ship was reactivated from the James River Maritime Administration Reserve Fleet on 8 February 1958, delivered to the Navy Department at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard on 8 August 1957 and converted to an AGS by the Charleston Naval Shipyard. USNS Michelson (AGS‑23) was placed in service on 15 December 1958 under the operational control of MSTS Atlantic.[2]

History
United States
Name: SS Joliet Victory
Builder: Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation, Portland, Oregon
Laid down: 5 May 1944
Launched: 14 June 1944
In service: 7 July 1944
Out of service: 1 July 1948
In service: 27 July 1950
Out of service: 31 October 1953
Name: USNS Michelson (T-AGS-23)
Namesake: Albert Abraham Michelson
Acquired: 8 February 1958
In service: 15 December 1958
Stricken: 15 April 1975
Fate: Sold, 22 September 1977
General characteristics (as built)[1]
Type: Type VC-2-AP2 Victory ship
Displacement:
  • 4,420 long tons (4,491 t) light
  • 13,050 long tons (13,259 t) full load
Length: 455 ft (139 m)
Beam: 62 ft (19 m)
Draft: 23 ft (7.0 m)
Propulsion: Cross compound steam turbine, 6,000–8,500 hp (4,474–6,338 kW)
Speed: 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph)

SS Joliet Victory WW2

SS Joliet Victory was a World War II era Victory ship. She was laid down on 5 May 1944, and delivered to the Maritime Commission on 30 June 1944. She served in the Pacific War, participating in the landings on Leyte in late 1944. SS Joliet Victory Naval Armed Guard crews earned Battle Stars in World War II for war action in during the Invasion of Lingayen Gulf from 4 Jan. 1945 to 18 Jan. 1945. Also a second "Battle Stars" for the Leyte landings in the Battle of Leyte from 5 March 1945 to 13 March 1945. [3] Joliet Victory was active in delivering support for the Battle of Iwo Jima from 19 February to 26 March 1945. In each battle she had to use her deck guns to defend against air attacks. Joliet Victory and the SS Columbia Victory had the dangerous job of supplying artillery ammunition for the Iwo Jima battle.[4] [5]

The ship was laid up in the Hudson River as part of the National Defense Reserve Fleet on 1 July 1948, and was reactivated during the Korean War, serving from 27 July 1950 until 31 October 1953, when she was again laid up in the NDRF in the James River.[1] She was acquired by the U.S. Navy on 8 February 1958, renamed Michelson, and converted to an Oceanographic Survey Ship (AGS) at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard.

USNS Michelson T-AGS-23

Michelson was operated by the U.S. Naval Oceanographic Office for the U.S. Navy Office of Special Projects in support of the U.S. Navy Fleet Ballistic Missile Program. Three ships were converted for this purpose: Michelson, and identical sister ships USNS Bowditch and USNS Dutton.

Attached aboard Michelson was a US Navy Oceanographic Detachment, upgraded ca. May 1966 to an Oceanographic Unit, of approximately 3 officers and 22 enlisted personnel, mostly technicians. Varying numbers of civilian scientists and engineers managed survey operations, and maintained certain navigation and sonar equipment, usually about 12 oceanographers from the Naval Oceanographic Office, some personnel from the Naval Applied Sciences Laboratory (NASL, later NSSNF), and about 7 technical representatives from private corporations.

Michelson was taken out of service and disposed of by MARAD sale on September 22, 1977.[6]

Notes
  1. Priolo, Gary P. (2011). "Survey Ship USNS Michelson (T-AGS-23)". navsource.org. Retrieved 4 July 2012.
  2. "Michelson (AGS‑23)". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. 2004. Retrieved 4 July 2012.
  3. usmm.org, "Battle Stars" in World War II.
  4. Marines, List of Ships At The Battle of Iwo Jima
  5. US Navy History, Amphibious Operations Capture of Iwo Jima
  6. "MICHELSON (AGS 23) (ex-MCV 114)". Naval Vessel Register. 2012. Retrieved 4 July 2012.

See also

References

Sources
  • Sawyer, L.A. and W.H. Mitchell. Victory ships and tankers: The history of the ‘Victory’ type cargo ships and of the tankers built in the United States of America during World War II, Cornell Maritime Press, 1974, 0-87033-182-5.
  • United States Maritime Commission:
  • Victory Cargo Ships



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