USS Georgetown (AG-165)

USS Georgetown (AGTR-2/AG-165), was an Oxford-class technical research ship acquired by the U.S. Navy for the task of conducting research in the reception of electromagnetic propagations.

Georgetown was a converted "Liberty-type" cargo ship, was laid down as SS Robert W. Hart under a Maritime Commission contract on 4 May 1945 by New England Shipbuilding Corporation, South Portland, Maine; launched 10 July 1945; sponsored by Mrs. Fred W. Woolsey; and delivered under General Agency Agreement from War Shipping Administration (WSA) to Atlantic, Gulf & West Indies Lines, New York, 2 August 1945.

Merchant Navy service
Robert W. Hart sailed in merchant navy service until entering the National Defense Reserve Fleet, Wilmington, North Carolina, in December 1946. She was chartered by Waterman Steamship Corp., Mobile, Alabama, 31 January 1947 and operated under bareboat charter until 29 October when she entered the National Defense Reserve Fleet, Jamestown, Virginia.

U.S. Navy service
Acquired by the Navy on 10 August 1962, she was taken to Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., Newport News, Virginia, for conversion to a technical research ship; renamed USS Georgetown (AG-165) on 6 March 1963; and commissioned at Norfolk, Virginia, 9 November 1963, Comdr. W. A. Gleason in command.

Atlantic Ocean operations
Equipped with the latest communications and electromagnetic research installations, Georgetown sailed for shakedown at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on 21 January 1964. She was reclassified AGTR-2 on 1 April 1964 and began her operational service on 13 April. Assigned to Service Squadron 8, she operated in the Caribbean until June, then departed Norfolk, Virginia on 30 June on a four-month deployment along the eastern coast of South America. After participating in electronic research programs, she returned to Norfolk on 26 October.

Pacific Ocean operations
Departing Norfolk on 5 January 1965, Georgetown steamed via the Panama Canal to the Southeast Pacific Ocean for research operations off the coast of Chile.

From ocean to ocean
Before returning to Norfolk on 14 May, she also operated in the Caribbean. Between 20 July and 13 October she again operated off the eastern coast of South America; and, after returning to Norfolk, she received new electronics equipment, including a Communication Moon Relay System. She departed Norfolk on 14 December and resumed important research and test equipment operations in the Caribbean and equatorial Pacific. The year 1966 was a busy one for Georgetown. Besides gathering valuable information about the ocean, she made two rescues at sea, transited the Panama Canal four times, passed through the eye of a hurricane, and won the Battle Efficiency "E."

Georgetown continued a long-standing Navy tradition of maintaining the highest standards in scientific research requirements.

Sold for scrapping, 24 July 1970, to N. V. Intershitra, Netherlands, for $185,001, She was reportedly scrapped in 1971.