USNS Timber Hitch
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
USNS Timber Hitch (T-AGM-17) was a US Navy missile range instrumentation ship which earlier operated as the US Air Force Ocean Range Vessel USAFS Timber Hitch (ORV-17) on the US Air Force's Eastern Test Range during the late 1950s and early 1960s. Timber Hitch operated under an Air Force contract with Pan American Airways Guided Missile Range Division headquartered in Cocoa Beach, Florida.
Timber Hitch receiving fresh water from the USAS American Mariner, Clarence Bay, Ascension Island, in December 1961. | |
History | |
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United States | |
Name | Timber Hitch |
Namesake | Timber hitch |
Owner | War Shipping Administration (WSA) |
Operator | Grace Line Inc. |
Ordered | as a type (C1-M-AV1) hull, MC hull 2315 |
Awarded | 17 February 1944 |
Builder | Consolidated Steel Corporation, Ltd., Wilmington, California |
Cost | $1,205,427.45 |
Yard number | 1220 |
Way number | 2 |
Laid down | 26 August 1944 |
Launched | 12 October 1944 |
Sponsored by | Mrs. W. F. Pruden |
Completed | 19 January 1945 |
Identification | |
Fate |
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United States | |
Name | Timber Hitch |
Owner | United States Air Force |
Reclassified | Ocean Range Vessel |
Identification | ORV-17 |
Fate | Transferred to the United States Navy, 1 July 1964 |
United States | |
Name | Timber Hitch |
Owner | United States Navy |
Operator | Military Sea Transportation Service |
In service | 1 July 1964 |
Out of service | 1968 |
Reclassified | Missile Range Instrumentation Ship |
Stricken | 9 October 1969 |
Identification |
|
Fate |
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General characteristics [2] | |
Class and type |
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Type | C1-M-AV1 |
Displacement | |
Length | 338 ft 9 in (103.25 m) |
Beam | 50 ft 4 in (15.34 m) |
Draft | 17 ft 7 in (5.36 m) |
Propulsion | Diesel, single propeller |
Speed | 11.5 kn (21.3 km/h; 13.2 mph) |
Endurance | 30 days at sea |
Sensors and processing systems | telemetry |
Armament | none |
Timber Hitch, assigned to the South Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean area, provided the Air Force with metric data on intercontinental ballistic missiles launched from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) in Florida.
Timber Hitch operated in the intercontinental ballistic missile re-entry area near Ascension Island, and was home-ported out of Recife, Brazil.