The USS Guardian (YAGR-1), later designated AGR-1, was a Guardian-class radar picket ship originally constructed as a Liberty Ship named James G. Squires. Laid down on March 20, 1945, by J.A. Jones Construction in Panama City, Florida, she was launched on May 8, 1945, and delivered to Waterman Steamship Corporation by the end of May. Her initial service was brief; she served until October 5, 1945, before being placed in the National Defense Reserve Fleet at James River, Virginia. In 1954, the vessel was acquired by the U.S. Navy and converted at the Charleston Navy Yard into a radar picket ship, a critical component of Cold War air defense. She was commissioned as USS Guardian on February 1, 1955, at Norfolk, Virginia. As the first ocean radar station ship in the Navy, she underwent shakedown training in Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico, and was assigned her home port in Newport, Rhode Island, reporting there on June 2, 1955. In 1958, her home port shifted to Davisville, Rhode Island. Equipped with highly sensitive radar systems, Guardian's primary mission was to detect, track, and report aircraft penetrating U.S. airspace, serving as part of the Eastern Continental Air Defense Command. Her operational schedule involved spending three to four weeks at sea off the U.S. East Coast and West Coast, often in harsh winter conditions in the North Atlantic. Besides radar duties, she participated in anti-submarine warfare (ASW) exercises with U.S. and Canadian naval units and conducted local operations from Newport and Key West, Florida. Her designation was changed to AGR-1 on September 28, 1958. The Guardian remained active until her decommissioning on July 28, 1965, after which she was returned to MARCOM and placed in the reserve fleet. She was sold for scrapping in Bilbao, Spain, in September 1971, marking the end of her maritime service. The vessel played a notable role in Cold War maritime defense, particularly as the first of her kind to operate on the open ocean for the U.S. Navy.

This description has been generated using GPT-4.1-NANO based on the Vessel's wikidata information and then modified by ShipIndex.org staff.