History | |
---|---|
![]() |
|
Name: | SS Joliet Victory |
Builder: | Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation, Portland, Oregon |
Laid down: | 5 May 1944 |
Launched: | 14 June 1944 |
In service: | 7 July 1944 |
Out of service: | 1 July 1948 |
In service: | 27 July 1950 |
Out of service: | 31 October 1953 |
![]() |
|
Name: | USNS Michelson (T-AGS-23) |
Namesake: | Albert Abraham Michelson |
Acquired: | 8 February 1958 |
In service: | 15 December 1958 |
Struck: | 15 April 1975 |
Fate: | Sold, 22 September 1977 |
General characteristics (as built) | |
Type: | Type VC-2-AP2 Victory ship |
Displacement: | |
Length: | 455 ft (139 m) |
Beam: | 62 ft (19 m) |
Draft: | 23 ft (7.0 m) |
Propulsion: | Cross compound steam turbine, 6,000–8,500 hp (4,474–6,338 kW) |
Speed: | 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph) |
USNS Michelson (T-AGS-23) was a Bowditch class oceanographic survey ship of the United States Navy. Launched as the SS Joliet Victory in 1944, Maritime Commission hull number MCV 114, a type VC2-S-AP3 Victory ship, she was named after Albert Abraham Michelson. The ship was reactivated from the James River Maritime Administration Reserve Fleet on 8 February 1958, delivered to the Navy Department at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard on 8 August 1957 and converted to an AGS by the Charleston Naval Shipyard. USNS Michelson (AGS‑23) was placed in service on 15 December 1958 under the operational control of MSTS Atlantic.
SS Joliet Victory was a World War II era Victory ship. She was laid down on 5 May 1944, and delivered to the Maritime Commission on 30 June 1944. She served in the Pacific War, participating in the landings on Leyte in late 1944. SS Joliet Victory Naval Armed Guard crews earned Battle Stars in World War II for war action in during the Invasion of Lingayen Gulf from 4 Jan. 1945 to 18 Jan. 1945. Also a second "Battle Stars" for the Leyte landings in the Battle of Leyte from 5 March 1945 to 13 March 1945. Joliet Victory was active in delivering support for the Battle of Iwo Jima from 19 February to 26 March 1945. In each battle she had to use her deck guns to defend against air attacks. Joliet Victory and the SS Columbia Victory had the dangerous job of supplying artillery ammunition for the Iwo Jima battle.