 USS Pueblo in October 1967 | |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Banner class |
| Builders: |
|
| Operators: |  |
| Subclasses: | None |
| Built: | 1944 |
| In service: | 1945–Present |
| Completed: | 3 |
| Active: | 1 |
| Lost: | 1 |
| Retired: | 1 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: |
|
| 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 cargo ships by the United States Navy during the 1960s. [1] The class comprised three ships: Banner, Pueblo, and Palm Beach. [2] 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.
A ship class is a group of ships of a similar design. This is distinct from a ship type, which might reflect a similarity of tonnage or intended use. For example, USS Carl Vinson is a nuclear aircraft carrier of the Nimitz class.
Technical research ships were used by the United States Navy during the 1960s to gather intelligence by monitoring, recording and analyzing wireless electronic communications of nations in various parts of the world. At the time these ships were active, the mission of the ships was covert and discussion of the true mission was prohibited. The mission of the ships was publicly given as conducting research into atmospheric and communications phenomena. However, the true mission was more or less an open secret and the ships were commonly referred to as "spy ships".
The Camano class was a class of light cargo ships of the United States Navy. The fifteen ships of the class were originally built as Design 381 coastal freighters or Design 427 coastal freighters and were converted to light cargo ships during 1949 and 1950 after acquisition by the United States Navy.
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In 1964 the Department of Defence became interested in having smaller, less expensive, more flexible and responsive signals intelligence collection vessels than the existing AGTR and T-AG vessels. The mothballed light cargo ships were the most suitable existing DOD ships. The National Security Agency (NSA) wanted 25 AGER vessels, though after detailed discussion with the Navy, this was reduced to 15 in budget requests for what the NSA called the Phase I and Phase II Trawler program. Eventually only three were converted. [3]
The United States Department of Defense is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government concerned directly with national security and the United States Armed Forces. The department is the largest employer in the world, with nearly 1.3 million active-duty service members as of 2016. Additional employees include over 826,000 National Guard and Reservists from the armed forces and over 732,000 civilians bringing the total to over 2.8 million employees. Headquartered at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C., the DoD's stated mission is to provide "the military forces needed to deter war and ensure our nation's security".
Signals intelligence (SIGINT) is intelligence-gathering by interception of signals, whether communications between people or from electronic signals not directly used in communication. Signals intelligence is a subset of intelligence collection management. As sensitive information is often encrypted, signals intelligence in turn involves the use of cryptanalysis to decipher the messages. Traffic analysis—the study of who is signaling whom and in what quantity—is also used to derive information.
The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence. The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collection, and processing of information and data for foreign and domestic intelligence and counterintelligence purposes, specializing in a discipline known as signals intelligence (SIGINT). The NSA is also tasked with the protection of U.S. communications networks and information systems. The NSA relies on a variety of measures to accomplish its mission, the majority of which are clandestine.
