_underway_in_Chesapeake_Bay_(USA)_on_12_December_1955_(7575699).jpg) USS Thor as a cable repair ship
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| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | Vanadis |
| Namesake | The asteroid Vanadis or Freia |
| Builder | Walsh-Kaiser Company, Providence, Rhode Island |
| Laid down | 18 April 1945 |
| Launched | 8 June 1945 |
| Commissioned | 9 July 1945 |
| Decommissioned | 27 March 1946 |
| Stricken | 5 June 1946 |
| Fate | Transferred to the Maritime Commission, 2 July 1946 |
| Name | Thor |
| Namesake | Thor, the Norse god of thunder |
| Acquired | 14 April 1955 |
| Recommissioned | 3 January 1956 |
| Decommissioned | 2 July 1973 |
| In service | 2 July 1973 (Military Sealift Command) |
| Out of service | April 1974 |
| Fate | Sold for scrapping 22 September 1977 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Artemis-class attack cargo ship |
| Type | S4–SE2–BE1 |
| Displacement |
|
| Length | 426 ft (130 m) |
| Beam | 58 ft (18 m) |
| Draft | 16 ft (4.9 m) |
| Speed | 16.9 knots (31.3 km/h; 19.4 mph) |
| Complement | 303 officers and enlisted |
| Armament |
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USS Thor was a cable repair ship that supported Project Caesar, the unclassified name for installation of the Sound Surveillance System (SOSUS). Originally the Artemis-class attack cargo ship Vanadis (AKA-49) which was briefly in commission from 9 July 1945 to 27 March 1946, it was converted in 1955 after nine years in the reserve fleet.
Thor, named after the Germanic god of thunder, was commissioned on 3 January 1956 and served in that capacity until 2 July 1973 when transferred to the Military Sealift Command (MSC) for brief operation as USNS Thor (T-ARC-4) until April 1974 when the ship was returned to the Maritime Administration for disposal. After removal of cable machinery the ship was eventually sold for scrap on 22 September 1977.
Thor was one of four Navy cable ships supporting military cable projects from the 1950s until 1984 with construction of Zeus. The others were Aeolus, the other transport conversion, and the two Army designed cable ships, the only ships in the Navy designed and built as cable ships, Albert J. Myer and Neptune which were modernized in the 1980s.