USNS Kingsport (T-AG 164)
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USNS Kingsport (T-AG-164) began its career as Kingsport Victory (T-AK-239), which served as a cargo vessel during World War II. Kingsport Victory was acquired by the United States Navy from the Maritime Commission on 1 March 1950, and carried military cargo for the next eleven years. On 24 September 1961, she was delivered to the Portland, Oregon facilities of Willamette Iron & Steel Co. where she underwent conversion to a satellite communication ship. On 14 November 1961 she was renamed Kingsport and reclassified AG-164.
Designed for use by the United States Army Satellite Communications Agency in the defense satellite communications programs, Project ADVENT, Kingsport Victory underwent extensive alteration during conversion. A special high frequency radio station was installed for ship-to-shore communications. She received advanced tracking and telemetry equipment and anti-roll stabilization tanks. In addition, a 30-foot, gyro-stabilized, computer-oriented, triaxial, parabolic antenna was installed on her afterdeck. Housed in a 53-foot, plastic, air-pressurized radome, this antenna permitted precision tracking of a high altitude satellite at any angle above the horizon.
In August 1963, Kingsport relayed the initial live broadcast of a telephone conversation between President John F. Kennedy in Washington, DC and Prime Minister Balawa in Nigeria via Syncom, one of the first synchronous satellites launched.
It was named in honor of Kingsport, Tennessee.
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This article includes text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.
