Tracking ship

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Class of ships used for tracking missiles and satellites

title: "Tracking ship" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["missile-range-instrumentation-ships", "ship-types", "cold-war-auxiliary-ships-of-the-united-states", "maritime-vessels-related-to-spaceflight", "research-vessels", "research-vessels-of-the-united-states", "rockets-and-missiles", "signals-intelligence"] description: "Class of ships used for tracking missiles and satellites" topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracking_ship" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Class of ships used for tracking missiles and satellites ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/USNS_Range_Sentinel_T-AGM-22_DNSC8510327.jpg" caption="USNS ''Range Sentinel'' (T-AGM 22)"] ::

A tracking ship, also called a missile range instrumentation ship or range ship, is a ship equipped with antennas and electronics to support the launching and tracking of missiles and rockets. Since many missile ranges launch over ocean areas for safety reasons, range ships are used to extend the range of shore-based tracking facilities.

In the United States, the initial tracking ships were constructed by the U.S. Army and then the U.S. Air Force to support their missile programs. They were generally built on a surplus Liberty ship or Victory ship hull. By 1964, the U.S. Navy took over all the range ships and introduced more.

In some Navies, such a ship is also given the Type Designation "Vigilship" or "Veladora", with the Designation Letter "V" or Letters "VC".

Missile range instrumentation ships

People's Liberation Army Aerospace Force

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/94/YuanWang2c.JPG" caption="Yuanwang 2"] ::

The Chinese ships were purpose built vessels for their role in the navy and the space program.

  • Yuanwang class
    • Yuanwang 1, 1977 – present
    • Yuanwang 2, 1978 – present
    • Yuanwang 3, 1995 – present
    • Yuanwang 4, 1999 – 2010
    • Yuanwang 5, 2007 – present
    • Yuanwang 6, 2007 – present

French Navy

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/68/FS_Monge.jpg" caption="The ''Monge'' (A601) of the French Navy, 1999"] ::

Inactive

  • Henri Poincaré, 1964–1992 — ex-Italian oil tanker Active
  • Monge, 1992–present{{cite news|title=French Navy’s Monge Missile Range Instrumentation Ship back at sea |url=https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2019/02/french-navys-monge-missile-range-instrumentation-ship-back-at-sea/ |date=July 2, 2019 |website=navalnews.com|access-date=May 4, 2025}}

Indian Navy

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ea/INS_Anvesh_(A41)during_trials(cropped).png" caption="INS Anvesh (A41) of the Indian Navy"] ::

Pakistan Navy

Russian Navy / Soviet Navy

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Space_control-monitoring_ship_"Kosmonaut_Yuri_Gagarin"in_1987(2).png" caption="''[[Kosmonavt Yuri Gagarin]]'' underway, 1987"] ::

The Soviet and later Russian ships were purpose built vessels for their role.

  • Kosmonaut Vladimir Komarov, 1966–1989 (scrapped)
  • Akademik Sergei Korolev, 1970–1996 (scrapped)
  • Kosmonavt Yuri Gagarin, 1971–1996 (scrapped)
  • **, 1978–2001 (museum attraction)
  • **, 1978–2006 (scrapped)
  • **, 1977–2000 (scrapped)
  • **, 1977–2000 (scrapped)
  • **, 1967–1989 (scrapped)
  • **, 1967–1989 (scrapped)
  • **, 1967–1989 (scrapped)
  • **, 1967–1989 (scrapped)
  • SSV-33 Ural, 1989–2001 (scrapped)
  • **, 1984–2000 (scrapped)
  • **, 1990

United States Navy/United States Air Force

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5b/USNS_Vanguard.jpg" caption="USNS ''Vanguard'']] underway"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ae/Dmp_trinidad_dock.jpg" caption="Chaguaramus]], Trinidad"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/USNS_Timber_Hitch_1962.jpg" caption="American Mariner}}, December 1961"] ::

There are currently only two active Instrumentation Ships in the U.S. Navy inventory: and . The former is now in the inactive fleet. The latter was delivered in January 2012 to replace USNS Observation Island (T-AGM-23) in 2014. Most of the USN and USAF tracking ships were converted into their role. Some ships were in service with NASA.

Inactive

Active

References

References

  1. Deb, Sheershoo. (April 2, 2021). "INS Dhruv: India’s Secret Missile Tracking Ship".
  2. "A603 Henri Poincaré".
  3. (9 December 2022). "INS Anvesh commissioning as seen in Indian Navy song".
  4. Sadham, Vinay. (March 18, 2024). "Pakistan gets spy ship from China to track ballistic missiles".
  5. "Military Sealift Command Fact Sheet".
  6. "Range Instrumentation Ship Photo Index".
  7. (12 January 2012). "Navy Accepts Delivery of USNS Howard O. Lorenzen". Navy.mil.
  8. "SIU - Keel laid for future USNS Observation Island replacement (8/25)".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

missile-range-instrumentation-shipsship-typescold-war-auxiliary-ships-of-the-united-statesmaritime-vessels-related-to-spaceflightresearch-vesselsresearch-vessels-of-the-united-statesrockets-and-missilessignals-intelligence