USS Belmont (AGTR-4)
USS Belmont was the first of two technical research ships, a class of US spy ships of the early Cold War, acquired by the U.S. Navy in 1963 and converted for the task of conducting "research in the reception of electromagnetic propagations". She was originally built during World War II as a Victory cargo ship named SS Iran Victory by the War Shipping Administration's Emergency Shipbuilding program under cognizance of the U.S. Maritime Commission.
Design and construction
Iran Victory was laid down on 25 January 1944 at Portland, Oregon, by the Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation as Yard Number 1010 under a Maritime Commission contract as a merchant cargo ship, one of the numerous VC2-S-AP3 Victory design. The Victory ships, a larger improvement on the basic Liberty ship design, carried 10,850 tons of cargo in three holds. Iran Victory measured 7,608 gross register tons and 4,551 net register tons, and had a length overall of, a breadth of, and a depth of. She was powered by a pair of oil-fired steam turbines made by Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; geared to a single shaft and propeller, the total power of gave her a speed of up to.The ship was launched as Iran Victory on 25 March 1944, sponsored by Mrs. Peter Hegge, and delivered on 23 April 1944 to the Maritime Commission, which turned her over to a commercial shipowner, the Pacific-Atlantic Steamship Company, for operation manned by a civilian crew. She was registered at Portland, Oregon with Official Number 245473 and allocated code signal KWXB.
Service as ''Iran Victory''
On 20 October 1944 SS Iran Victory had job of delivering ammunition for troops of the US Central Philippine Attack Force. She was in a convoy of ships that was held at Kossol Roads in October 1944 until needed. The convoy included the ammunition ships Meridian Victory, Iran Victory and and the gasoline tanker, protected by the destroyer escorts, and, under the command of Comcortdiv Thirty-Seven.On SS Iran Victorys third voyage she loaded at Port Chicago and traveled to Finchaven, Manus Island, Babelthuap, Leyte, Ulithi Atoll, Guam and home to San Pedro, Los Angeles. On 11 March 1945 while she was at the Ulithi Atoll the aircraft carrier was hit by a Kamikaze plane while Iran Victory was berthed next to her.
During the Korean War Iran Victory transported ammunition, mail, food and other supplies as part of the merchant marine support that moved about 90 percent of supplies to the war zone. She was subsequently laid up at Astoria, Oregon, with the National Defense Reserve Fleet some time between April 1954 and April 1955.
Service as USS ''Belmont''
In February 1963, Iran Victory was acquired by the U.S. Navy and entered the Willamette Iron and Steel Co. yard at Portland, Oregon for conversion to a spy ship, the first in her class of larger electronic spy vessels. On 8 June 1963, she was renamed USS Belmont, the second naval vessel of that name, and designated a miscellaneous auxiliary AG-167. She was redesignated a technical research ship AGTR-4 on 1 April 1964, and was commissioned at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard on 2 November 1964.Belmont completed outfitting at Puget Sound during November 1964, and on 2 December 1964 departed Bremerton, Washington, bound for her permanent assignment with the U.S. Atlantic Fleet at her new homeport, Norfolk, Virginia. She arrived there on 21 December 1964 and, exactly one month later, got underway for a five-week cruise to the West Indies, which included shakedown training and concluded with port visits to Kingston, Jamaica, and Key West, Florida. She returned to Hampton Roads, Virginia, on 1 March 1965 and entered the Norfolk Naval Shipyard for a month of post-shakedown availability. Final acceptance trials occupied 29 and 30 March 1965, and preparations for her first operational deployment followed.
Deployment in Atlantic and South American waters
On 26 April, Belmont passed between the Virginia Capes into the Atlantic Ocean and laid in a course for the West Indies. Two days at sea, the ship received orders to proceed to the vicinity of the Dominican Republic where, four days earlier, a revolt of left-wing factions had broken out. Belmont remained on station observing conditions until the middle of July. On 13 May, she headed back to Norfolk where she arrived four days later. After almost two months in port, the ship once more got underway on 14 September and spent about a month cruising in the West Indies before transiting the Panama Canal in mid-October. For the remainder of the year, she conducted operations along the western coast of South America, including visits to Valparaíso, Chile, and Callao, Peru.New Year's Day 1966 found her at anchor in Callao. Two days later she weighed anchor to return to the Panama Canal Zone. Belmont retransited the canal on 21 January 1966 and moored in Norfolk on the 28th, where she remained for almost seven weeks for upkeep and shipyard availability. On 16 March 1966, the ship embarked upon another deployment to the western coast of South America. She transited the Panama Canal on 28 and 29 March 1966 and, for the next eight weeks, cruised along the coasts of Peru and Chile. Belmont returned to the Panama Canal Zone for a five-day visit between 23 and 28 May 1966. On the latter day, she departed Panama and embarked upon five weeks of operations in order to spy on French atomic tests in French Polynesia. The ship arrived back in the Panama Canal Zone on 13 July 1966, transited the canal the next day, and reentered Norfolk on 20 July.
After seven weeks of upkeep in her homeport, Belmont stood out to sea on 7 September 1966, bound for her third assignment in the Pacific coastal waters of South America. She transited the Panama Canal again on 19 September 1966, and two days later shaped a course for her zone of operations. At the conclusion of that assignment, the ship returned to the Canal Zone on 4 November 1966. She proceeded through the canal on 8 November 1966 and then set course for Norfolk. Belmont reentered her homeport on 14 November 1966, and spent the remainder of the year in the Norfolk Naval Shipyard installing communication gear.
The spy ship spent the first month of 1967 completing the installation of her new communications equipment and testing it. On 1 February 1967, Belmont loosed her mooring lines to begin an extended cruise to the Southern Hemisphere, one that included a circumnavigation of the South American continent. Hydrographic and communications research highlighted the five-month voyage as did visits to sundry South American ports. Belmont completed her circuit of the South American continent on 3 June 1967 when she transited the Panama Canal and laid in a course for Norfolk. The technical research ship pulled into her homeport on 9 June 1967 and commenced a repair period. Her hull and various items of equipment received repairs over the next two months.
On 14 August 1967, she stood out of the Chesapeake Bay bound for the Indian Ocean. The ship rounded the Cape of Good Hope on 5 October 1967, and spent the following six weeks engaged in special operations along the eastern coast of Africa. On 22 November 1967, she redoubled the cape and, after an overnight stop at Monrovia, Liberia on 2 and 3 December 1967, pointed her bow west for the homeward voyage. Belmont arrived back at Norfolk on 12 December 1967, and spent the remainder of the year engaged in holiday leave and upkeep.