| These photos were furnished by Dan Kovalchik who served aboard the Vanguard and who wrote of his years on the ship in his book "Range Rats at Sea" Dan's book is a must read for anyone interested in or who worked in the space program in those early days. Many Thanks Dan The following was furnished by Chet Shaddeau, a United States Naval Academy graduate, whose life was split between the U. S. Navy and NASA and who we all remember as the NASA Station Director at several stations including Santiago, Chile; Quito, Ecuador and Greenbelt, Maryland. "The Vanguard was first a T-2 Maritime Administration tanker hull, which was used to construct the Vanguard, and was a Navy-owned, but civil service-manned ship—a part of what was referred to as the Military Sea Transport Service. She was, officially, USNS (which means United States Naval Ship)Vanguard ( T-AGM-19). She was later, after her NASA service, converted to a test bed for communication testing, and was (still as USNS Vanguard) designated T-A-something else. " Many Thanks Chet |