USNS Watertown (T-AGM-6)

USNS Watertown (T-AGM-6)
Career
Ordered:
Laid down:
Launched:
Commissioned:	11 August 1960
Fate:	unknown
Struck:	16 February 1972
General Characteristics
Displacement:	4,512 tons light, 11,500 tons full
Length:	455.3 feet
Beam:	62.2 feet
Draft:	28.5 feet
Speed:	15.5 knots
Complement:	56
Armament:

USNS Watertown (T-AGM-6) was a unique (not a member of a class of ships) Missile Range Instrumentation Ship. She was constructed as a Maritime Commission VC2-S-AP3 "Victory Ship[?]" under Maritime Commission contract (MCV hull 100) at Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation[?] of Portland, Oregon and acquired by the Navy. She was propelled by a cross-compound steam turbine driving a single screw at 8500 shaft horsepower. She was assigned to the Military Sea Transportation Service[?] and placed in-service on 11 August 1960.

Watertown carried instrumentation to track and record flight events for military missile and NASA manned spacecraft, extending the coverage of the tracking network over the Pacific ocean. She was slated at one time to be part of the Apollo 8 recovery team but was dropped from the program. In 1969, she called at Pitcairn Island.

Watertown was taken out of service, returned to the Maritime Administration[?] for lay up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet[?], and struck from the Naval Register on 16 February 1971. She was sold on 23 May 1974 and her ultimate fate is unknown.