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Protector II (YAGR-11)

(YAGR-11: dp. 10,760 (f.); l. 441-6-; b. 56-11-; dr. 24-; s. 11 k.; cpl. 144; a. 3 3-; cl. Guardian; T. Z-EC2-S-C5)

A guard or guardian.

II

The second Protector (YAGR-11) wag laid down by J. A. Jones Construction Co., Wainwright Yards, Panama City Fla. as liberty ship SS Warren P. Marks (MCE hull 2346) 31 January 1945 ; launched 15 March 1945; sponsored by Mrs. E. M. Hinson; and placed in service 29 March 1945.

Operated by the Shepard Steamship Co. from 1945 to 1957, Warren P. Marks was converted at the Charleston Naval Shipyard, and commissioned Protector (YAGR-11) 20 February 1957, Lt. Comdr. Glen G. Heller in command. After shakedown off Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Protector, homeported at Newport, reported to Commandant, 1st Naval District for administrative control arid to Commander YAGR Division 21 for duty and was assigned as an Ocean Station Radar Picket Ship in the seaword extension of the Eastern Continental Air Defense Command Contiguous Radar Coverage System.

Continuing her duties off the East Coast, Protector was redesignated an AGR on 28 October 1958. She continued her radar picket duty until 1965. During the Cuban invasion in the spring of 1962 and the Cuban Missile Crisis in the fall, Protector operated in the Florida Straits and established a new radar picket station.

On 10 February 1965, Protector terminated picket duty as the last picket ship to man Radar Picket Station No. IS of NORAD Contiguous Radar Coverage System. On 28 July 1965 she decommissioned at Bayonne, N.J., and was placed in the Maritime Administration Reserve Fleet, Hudson River, New York, as an Emergency Relocation Center Ship, where she remains into 1970.

Published: Tue Aug 25 08:08:06 EDT 2015