USS Oxford (AGTR-1/AG-159) was an Oxford-class technical research ship (a class of US spy ships of the early Cold War), acquired by the U.S. Navy in 1960 and converted for the task of conducting "research in the reception of electromagnetic propagations" (electronic signals intelligence gathering). She was originally built during World War II as a Liberty-type cargo ship originally named the Samuel R. Aitken. Samuel R. Aitken's civilian life The second ship eventually to be named Oxford by the Navy, AGTR-1, a Liberty ship, was laid down 23 June 1945 under Maritime Commission contract by the New England Shipbuilding Corp. of Portland, Maine as a merchant marine naval cargo ship; launched 31 July 1945 as Samuel R. Aitken (MCE–3127); sponsored by Mrs. Margaret C. Aitken; and delivered to the Maritime Commission 25 August 1945. As Samuel R. Aitken she served the merchant fleet, first with the Moore-McCormack Steam Ship Lines and then with the Arnold Bernstein Line. She was laid up 10 April 1948 in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, in Wilmington, North Carolina. Conversion to technical research ship Oxford AG-159 In October 1960, the Samuel R. Aitken was towed to the New York Naval Shipyard, Brooklyn, New York, for conversion to an electronic spy ship. Renamed USS Oxford (AG–159) on 25 November 1960, she was commissioned at New York on 8 July 1961. She reported to Norfolk, Virginia, 11 September 1961 for duty with the Service Force, Atlantic Fleet, and shortly thereafter conducted shakedown out of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Oxford was designed to conduct research in the reception of electromagnetic propagations, an open secret phrase for gathering electronic signals military intelligence (SIGINT). Equipped with the latest antenna systems and measuring devices, she was a highly sophisticated and mobile station which could steam to various parts of the world to participate in the Navy's "comprehensive program of research and development projects in communications" (electronic spying). Because of the immediate or potential military applications of her work, much of Oxford's employment was classified. Cold War Service Cuban Missile Crisis In the fall of 1962, the Oxford had been making slow figure-eight patterns in the waters just off the coast of Havana, Cuba. Its mission had been to eavesdrop on Cuban microwave communications throughout the island. The workings of the microwave system in Cuba were well known to the Americans since they had acquired the design documents from the Radio Corporation of