USS Belmont (AGTR-4/AG-167) 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" (electronic signals intelligence gathering). 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 (MCV hull 94) 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.