page_title: USNS Redstone
section_title: World War II, 1944-1946
hierarchical_section_title: USNS Redstone / Service history / World War II, 1944-1946
caption_attribution_description: English: USNS Mission De Pala (T-AO-114) just before conversion to a Missile Range Instrumentation Ship in Quincy, Massachusetts.
context_page_description: USNS Redstone, designated AT‑AGM‑20, was a tracking ship assigned to Apollo space mission support under the control of the Eastern Range. For a brief time during conversion the ship was named Johnstown with the designation AGM‑20.
  The ship was built as Mission De Pala, named for Mission San Antonio de Pala in eastern San Diego County, California, a Type T2-SE-A2 tanker, for the United States Maritime Commission during World War II. After the war the tanker was transferred to the United States Navy for operation by the Naval Transportation Service as Mission De Pala and later the successor Military Sea Transportation Service as USNS Mission De Pala. The tanker was a member of the Mission Buenaventura-class oiler.
context_section_description: Mission De Pala was laid down on 26 November 1943 under a Maritime Commission contract by Marinship Corporation, Sausalito, California. The T2-SE-A2 tanker was launched on 28 February 1944, sponsored by Mrs. Francis D. Malone.  The ship, official number 245359, was delivered to the War Shipping Administration for operation by Pacific Tankers Inc. under a general agency agreement on 22 April 1944.
  The tanker spent the remainder of the war carrying oil and fuel to allied forces overseas, in the Pacific (during which time she was three times awarded the Navy Battle "E" Ribbon as well as the National Defense Service Medal). Returned to the Maritime Commission on 28 May 1946, she was laid up in the Maritime Reserve Fleet at Mobile, Alabama.
caption: USNS Mission De Pala.
exif: {}