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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

Range Recoverer (YFRT-524)
ex
 USNS Range Recoverer (T-AGM-2) (1960 - ?)
 USNS Range Recoverer (T-AG-161) (1960)
 USAV FS-278 (1944 -1960)


International Radio Call Sign:
November - Oscar - Golf - Foxtrot
 NOGF
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

National Defense Service Medal
Missile Range Instrumentation Ship:
  • Built for the US Army in 1944 as FS-278 by Wheeler Shipbuilding Corp., Whitestone, N.Y.
  • Acquired by the Navy April 1960
  • Converted by Pacific Ship Repair, San Francisco, CA.
  • Assigned to the Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS) and placed in service as Miscellaneous Auxiliary USNS Range Recoverer (T-AG-161), 22 June 1960
  • Reclassified Missile Range Instrumentation Ship (T-AGM-2), 27 November 1960
  • Placed out of service in 1972
  • Reclassified Range Tender YFRT-524, date unknown
  • Struck from the Naval Register, date unknown
  • Sold for scrapping, 1 November 1974, by the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service
  • Acquired, date unknown, by Omega Protein, Reedville, VA., rebuilt as a menhaden fishing vessel, renamed FV Reedville
  • Final Disposition, scuttled off Delaware as a fishing reef, 13 August 2020.
    Specifications:
    Displacement 550 t.(lt) 935 t.(fl)
    Length 176' 6"
    Beam 32'
    Draft 11' 5"
    Speed 10 kts
    Complement 24
    Propulsion
    two GE Diesel 500hp engines
    twin propellers
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Source
    USNS Range Recoverer (T-AGM-2)
    Range Recoverer 166k "The log periodic antenna on the foremast - used for communications, can be tilted down for going under bridges. The quad helix antenna on the starboard wing, and the single helix on the port are used for tracking missiles, and the whip antennas used for communications. The USNS Range Recoverer T-AGM-2) also had a state of the art sonar that was directional, and could be tilted 2º above the horizon to the bottom. One could see the navigation buoy mooring chains, and channel when approaching a harbor, etc., and could also locate pingers on objects." Captain Robert W. Broom, Master USNS Range Recoverer.
    US Navy photo    		 Courtesy CAPT. Robert (Bob) Broom, Master USNS Range Recoverer
    via Carl R. Friberg Jr.
    Range Recoverer 206k USNS Range Recoverer (T-AGM-2) under way, date and location unknown. Carl R. Friberg Jr.
    Range Recoverer 40k USNS Range Recoverer (T-AGM-2) under way, date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo.    		 Robert Hurst
    Range Recoverer 92k USNS Range Recoverer (T-AGM-2) under way, date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo, Military Sea Transportation Service photo.    		 Robert Hurst
    Range Recoverer 127k Port side aerial oblique view of USNS Range Recoverer (T-AGM-2) under way, 20 July 1961, location unknown.
    US Naval Photographic Center photo # KN-2751    		 Tommy Trampp
    Commercial Service
    Range Recoverer
    09530205    		 368k Ex-USNS Range Recoverer (T-AGM-2) being scuttled on Redbird Reef off the coast of Delaware, 13 August 2020.
    Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control photos    		 David Wright
    Range Recoverer
    09530204    		 144k
    Range Recoverer
    09530206    		 355k
    USNS Range Recoverer (T-AGM-2)
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    Selected Articles
    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation - Navy Log
    Back To the Main Photo Index Back To The US Army Ship Index Back To The US Army Freight and Supply Vessel Photo Index Back To the US Navy Service Ship Photo Index Back To the US Navy Miscellaneous Auxiliary (AG) Photo Index Back To the US Navy Missile Range Instrumentation Ship (AGM) Photo Index Back To The US Navy Range Tender (Self-propelled) (YFRT) Photo Index
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    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
    All pages copyright NavSource Naval History
    Last Updated 21 August 2020