of Gibraltar on 28 June 1969 and joined the 6th Fleet, two years after the Israeli attack on her sister ship, . Over the next four months, Belmont ranged the length and breadth of the Mediterranean conducting a series of special operations and making stops at ports along the Mediterranean littoral. However, this technical research (spy) ship spent the majority of her time in the eastern portion of the sea near Kythira, Greece, and the island of Crete. Belmont concluded this last deployment of her career at Rota, Spain (never made it to Rota) on 21 October 1969, and steered a course back to the United States that same day. Fate Belmont arrived back in Norfolk on 3 November 1969. Three weeks later, the ship received the close scrutiny of a board of inspection and survey. As a result, she was found to be of limited naval value. Accordingly, Belmont was decommissioned at Norfolk on 16 January 1970, and her name was struck from the Naval Vessel Register that same day. On 24 June 1970, over 26 years after her construction during World War II, she was sold to the Boston Metals Co. in Baltimore, Maryland, for scrapping. Notes References External links Navy History – USS Belmont AGTR-4 – 1964–1968 USS Belmont NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive – AG-167 / AGTR-4 Belmont Cold War auxiliary ships of the United States Research vessels of the United States Navy Vietnam War ships Ships built in Portland, Oregon 1944 ships