Jump to content

USNS Invincible

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
USNS Invincible
USNS Invincible (T-AGM-24)
History
United States
Ordered20 January 1982
BuilderTacoma Boatbuilding Company, Tacoma, Washington
Laid down2 May 1986
Launched8 November 1986
In service30 January 1987
Out of service15 December 2021
HomeportNo homeport assigned
Identification
StatusDeactivated
General characteristics
TypeTracking ship
Displacement2,285 tons full load
Length224 ft (68 m)
Beam43 ft (13 m)
Draught16 ft (4.9 m)
Propulsionfour diesel generators, two shafts, 3,200 brake hp
Speed11 knots (20 km/h; 13 mph)
Capacity
  • Officers: 7
  • Enlisted: 13
Complement
  • 18 civilians
  • 18 military/sponsor personnel
Sensors and
processing systems
Cobra Gemini

USNS Invincible (T-AGM-24), also known as ex-AGOS 10, is one of two tracking ships operated by the Military Sealift Command. One of the radars it carries is the Cobra Gemini dual band, X band and S band, radar.[1]

SURTASS gear on Invincible in 1987, soon after christening.

Like other members of the Stalwart class of ocean surveillance ships, the original mission of the Invincible was to patrol the oceans looking for submarines with her Surveillance Towed Array Sensor System (SURTASS), a large passive sonar array. The ship was reclassified from AGOS-10 to AGM-24 on April 4, 2000 after she was refitted as a missile range instrumentation ship. Invincible provides a platform for the Cobra Gemini dual-band radar developed by the United States Air Force to support data collection requirements on theater ballistic missiles.[2] The Military Sealift Command retains custody for United States Air Force use for deploying a mobile surveillance and tracking radar system.[2]

History

[edit]

Invincible deployed to the Persian Gulf in 2012, passing through the Strait of Hormuz on 19 May 2012 in convoy with British minesweepers.[3] In March 2017, Invincible visited the Persian Gulf under Royal Navy escort, and was greeted by numerous IRGC fastboats which provocatively approached within 600 meters of Invincible in the Gulf of Oman.[citation needed]

The ship was inactivated on 15 December 2021 and the US Navy plans to repurpose it into a training vessel or store it as part of the National Defense Reserve Fleet.[4]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Cobra Gemini". Federation of American Scientists. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
  2. ^ a b "Military Sealift Command--Fact Sheet". U.S Navy Military Sealift Command. Retrieved 2008-08-17.
  3. ^ "US Navy photo 120519-N-AP176-039". US Navy. 19 May 2012.
  4. ^ "AFTAC, MSC inactivate ballistic missile tracking ship" (Press release). Sixteenth Air Force (Air Forces Cyber). 21 December 2021. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
[edit]

Media related to USNS Invincible (T-AGM-24) at Wikimedia Commons