Banner-class environmental research ship
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USS Pueblo in October 1967
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| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Banner class |
| Builders: |
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| Operators: |
 United States Navy
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| Subclasses: | None |
| Built: | 1944 |
| In service: | 1945-Present |
| Completed: | 3 |
| Active: | 1 |
| Lost: | 1 |
| Retired: | 1 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: |
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| Displacement: | 550 tons light, 895 tons full, 345 tons dead |
| Length: | 177 ft (54 m) |
| Beam: | 32 ft (9.8 m) |
| Draft: | 9 ft (2.7 m) |
| Propulsion: | 2 x 500 hp (370 kW) GM Cleveland Division 6-278A 6-cyl V6 diesel engines |
| Speed: | 12.7 knots (23.5 km/h; 14.6 mph) |
| Complement: | 83 as AGER |
| Armament: | 2 × M2 Browning .50-caliber machine guns, small arms |
The Banner class was a class of three environmental research ships converted from Camano-class light cargo ships by the United States Navy during the 1960s. The class comprised three ships: Banner, Pueblo, and Palm Beach. The ships were originally United States Army vessels which had been built in 1944. Although officially classified as environmental research ships, the vessels were actually used as Signals intelligence gathering vessels, as part of the AGER program.
USS Banner (AKL-25) was the second ship of the United States Navy named in honor of Banner County, Nebraska. Her keel was laid down in 1944 as the US Army small freighter Captain William M. Galt (FS-345) by Kewaunee Shipbuilding and Engineering Corporation of Kewaunee, Wisconsin. She was commissioned on 26 July 1944, Lieutenant Junior Grade G.W. Oberst of the United States Coast Guard Reserve in command. During World War II, FS-345 served in the Southwest Pacific Theater, operating at Guam and Manila. She was acquired by the United States Navy on 1 July 1950 and placed in service by the Military Sea Transportation Service and redesignated T-AKL-25. On 24 November 1950, she was commissioned as USS Banner (AKL-25). Banner was assigned to Pacific Fleet's Service Division 31, where she supplied bases in the Pacific. She was converted to an environmental research ship from August to October 1965, after which she collected intelligence out of Yokosuka until decommissioning on 14 November 1969. She was scrapped by Mitsui and Co. at Tadotsu from 5 June 1970.
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