05/21/2014:The USNS Howard O. Lorenzen (T-AGM-25), a 534-feet-long Missile Range Instrumentation Ship, operated by the Military Sealift Command, departs Oregon via the Columbia River.
Credit Video: Oregon National Guard Public Affairs Office:5/16/14
The Oregon Military Department released photos Monday of a 534-foot U.S. Navy ship that sailed down the Columbia River out to the Pacific Ocean on its way to monitor missile launches and weapons tests conducted around the world.
The USNS Howard O. Lorenzen is one of three missile-range instrumentation ships operated by the Navy’s Military Sealift Command and works in the Pacific. It does missions sponsored by the U.S. Air Force.
The USNS Howard O. Lorenzen (T-AGM-25) is the latest vessel of the Military Sealift Command’s (MSC) three-missile-range instrumentation ships. The new ship is expected to achieve initial operational capability in 2014. The other two missile range instrumentation ships are the USNS Invincible and the USNS Observation Island…..
The T-AGM-25 is a commercially designed and built ship. It has a length of 534ft, beam of 89ft and draft of 22ft. The displacement of the ship is 12,229t. The vessel will have 88 staff, including sailors, civil service mariners and mission technicians from government agencies.
The ship will be used for tracking and monitoring all missile launches and weapon tests carried out around the world. It will also be used in data collection of the tested weapons and launched missiles, providing useful information to the designers of arms in the US.
It will be one of the 24 ships operated by MSC under its Special Mission Program. Under this program, ships are manned and operated on a contract basis by civilian mariners under the jurisdiction of MSC.