she steamed from Okinawa to Hong Kong, then Calcutta; through the Suez Canal she arrived at New York City on 27 February 1946. During 1946 she moved cargo from the US east and west coasts. After the war, on 29 September 1947, she was taken out of service and placed in the reserve fleet at Lee Hall, Virginia. On 8 April 1948 the ship was taken out of reserve and bareboat chartered to the War Department for operation as the USAT 'Kingsport Victory a US Army Transport. During this time the ship was involved in a legal case, Johansen, v. United States, involving rights of an Army civil service employee crew member in personal injury cases. On 1 March 1950 she was removed from US Army Transport and transferred the US Navy. Navy MSTS serviceKingsport Victory was among large Army ships transferred to the Navy's Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS) with Kingsport Victory being transferred effective 1 March 1950. The ship carried military cargo for the next eleven years as USNS Kingsport Victory (T-AK-239). Kingsport Victory is seen in an Air Force documentary film on the construction of the Dew Line loading supplies at Norfolk, Virginia and unloading at Halifax, Nova Scotia. Assigned to duty supporting the U.S. Army Satellite Communications Agency USNS Kingsport was further modified and, in August 1963 while in Lagos harbor, transmitted the first satellite voice call between heads of state when John F. Kennedy and Nigerian Prime Minister Abubakar Balewa aboard Kingsport spoke in a two-way call. A demonstration of transmission of oceanographic data was made between a research vessel off Africa via the ship and satellite to Washington. The first air to ship satellite communication took place when Navy aircraft off Virginia established voice communication with Kingsport which was off Morocco. Further satellite communications work took place in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Kingsport then supported Project Gemini into March 1966. After conversion from satellite configuration, particularly removal of the large and very visible dome, Kingsport was engaged in acoustic work for the Navy supporting undersea surveillance programs. Satellite communications ship Kingsport On 24 September 1961, she was delivered to the Portland, Oregon facilities of Willamette Iron & Steel Company where she underwent conversion to become the first satellite communications ship. On 14 November 1961 she was renamed Kingsport and reclassified AG-164. Designed for use by the United States Army Satellite Communications Agency in