USS Belmont (AGTR-4)

USS Belmont underway in the late 1960s
History
Name	SS Iran Victory
Namesake	Iran
Owner	War Shipping Administration
Operator	Pacific-Atlantic Steamship Company
Port of registry	Portland, Oregon
Builder	Oregon Shipbuilding Company, Portland, Oregon
Yard number	1010
Laid down	25 January 1944
Launched	24 March 1944
Completed	4 May 1944
Fate	Transferred to U.S. Navy February 1963, as USS Belmont
United States
Name	USS Belmont
Acquired	February 1963
Commissioned	2 November 1964
Decommissioned	16 January 1970
Stricken	16 January 1970
Homeport	Norfolk, Virginia
Identification	AGTR-4
Fate	Scrapped, 24 June 1970
Badge
General characteristics
Class and type	VC2-S-AP3 Victory ship
Tonnage	7,612 GRT 4,553 NRT
Displacement	15,200 tons
Length	455 ft (139 m)
Beam	62 ft (19 m)
Draught	28 ft (8.5 m)
Installed power	8,500 shp (6,300 kW)
Propulsion	HP & LP turbines geared to a single 20.5-foot (6.2 m) propeller
Speed	16.5 knots (30.6 km/h; 19.0 mph)
Boats & landing craft carried	4 lifeboats
Complement	62 Merchant Marine and 28 US Naval Armed Guards as Victory ship 318 as USS Belmont
Armament	1 × 5-inch (127 mm)/38 caliber gun as Victory ship 1 × 3-inch (76 mm)/50 caliber gun as Victory ship 8 × 20 mm Oerlikon as Victory ship
Notes	[1]

USS Belmont (AGTR-4/AG-167) was the first of two Belmont-class 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.