USS Protector (AGR-11)

	USS Protector (AGR-11), underway, 12 October 1960, place unknown.
History
United States
Name	Warren P. Marks
Namesake	Warren P. Marks
Owner	War Shipping Administration (WSA)
Operator	Shepard Steamship Company
Ordered	as type (EC2-S-C5) hull, MC hull 2346
Builder	J.A. Jones Construction, Panama City, Florida
Cost	$1,006,824
Yard number	87
Way number	5
Laid down	31 January 1945
Launched	15 March 1945
Sponsored by	Mrs. E. M. Hinson
Completed	29 March 1945
Identification	Call sign: ANQH; ;
Fate	Acquired by US Navy, 1957
United States
Name	Protector
Namesake	A guard or guardian
Commissioned	20 February 1957
Decommissioned	28 July 1965
Reclassified	Guardian-class radar picket ship
Refit	Charleston Naval Shipyard, Charleston, South Carolina
Identification	Hull symbol: YAGR-11 (1957–1958); Hull symbol: AGR-11 (1958–1965); IMO number: 8628341;
Fate	Placed in National Defense Reserve Fleet, Hudson River Reserve Fleet, Jones Point, New York, 1 April 1965; Sold for scrapping, 30 November 2005;
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 General Machinery Corp., Hamilton, Ohio); 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-inch (76 mm)/50-caliber gun; Stern-mounted 4-inch (102 mm)/50-caliber gun; 2–8 × single 20-millimeter (0.79 in) Oerlikon anti-aircraft (AA) cannons and/or,; 2–8 × 37-millimeter (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 Protector (AGR/YAGR-11) was a Guardian-class radar picket ship of the United States Navy. A Liberty Ship acquired in 1957, she was reconfigured as a radar picket ship and assigned to radar picket duty in the North Atlantic Ocean as part of the Distant Early Warning Line.

Construction

The third ship to be so named by the Navy, Protector (YAGR–11) was laid down on 31 January 1945, under a Maritime Commission (MARCOM) contract, MC hull 2346, as the Liberty Ship Warren P. Marks, by J.A. Jones Construction, Panama City, Florida. She was launched 15 March 1945; sponsored by Mrs. E. M. Hinson; and delivered 29 March 1945, to the Shepard Steamship Company.^[5]^[4]

Service history

Operated by the Shepard Steamship Co., from 1945 to 1957, Warren P. Marks was converted Charleston Navy Yard, Charleston, South Carolina, and commissioned Protector (YAGR–11), 20 February 1957.^[5]^[4]

After shakedown off Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Protector, homeported at Davisville, Rhode Island, reported to Commandant, 1st Naval District for administrative control and to Commander YAGR Division 21 for duty and was assigned as an Ocean Station Radar Picket Ship in the seaward extension of the Eastern Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD)'s Contiguous Radar Coverage System.^[5]

Continuing her duties off the US East Coast, Protector was redesignated AGR-11 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.^[5]

On 10 February 1965, Protector terminated picket duty as the last picket ship to man Radar Picket Station No. 15 of NORAD Contiguous Radar Coverage System.^[5]

Decommissioning

On 28 July 1965, she decommissioned at Bayonne, New Jersey, and was placed in the US Maritime Administration (MARAD) National Defense Reserve Fleet, Hudson River Reserve Fleet, Jones Point, New York, as an Emergency Relocation Center Ship, where she remained until she was towed to the Norfolk Naval Shipyard where her engine was removed. She was then placed for sale as scrap, with scrapping completed 30 November 2005.^[5]^[4]

Military awards and honors

Protector's crew was eligible for the following medals:

Navy Expeditionary Medal (2-Cuba)
National Defense Service Medal

^[4]

References

^ J.A. Panama City 2010.
^ ^a ^b MARCOM.
^ Davies 2004, p. 23.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Navsource 2019.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f DANFS.

Bibliography

"Protector II (YAGR-11)". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Navy Department, Naval History and Heritage Command. 25 August 2015. Retrieved 4 December 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 4 December 2019.
Davies, James (May 2004). "Specifications (As-Built)" (PDF). p. 23. Retrieved 27 November 2019.
"SS Warren P. Marks". Retrieved 4 December 2019.
"USS Protector (AGR-11)". Navsource.org. 11 April 2019. Retrieved 4 December 2019.

External links

Photo gallery of USS Protector at NavSource Naval History

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

[FOOTNOTEMARCOM-2] MARCOM.

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

[FOOTNOTENavsource2019-4] Navsource 2019.

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