USS Picket Life-Ring

This small-sized life-ring most likely came from a vessel that assisted the larger 441-foot ship. A picket boat is a type of small naval craft primarily used by larger warships as a ship's boat. They are usually 30 to 55 feet long and would, I surmise, carry a smaller-sized life ring. Made from painted canvas-covered kapok, measuring 15 inches in diameter.

Picket (YAGR-7) was laid down on 28 March 1945 as the Liberty-ship S.S. James F. Harrell and delivered for merchant marine service on 11 June 1945. Acquired by the Navy on 12 July 1955 and renamed Picket, the merchant ship was towed to the Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Va., for conversion to radar station ship YAGR-7. She was commissioned on 8 February 1956 and was reclassified AGR-7 on 28 September 1958. From 1956 to 1965, Picket used her long-range radar and communications equipment to serve the North American Air Defense Command. She provided vital radar information on seaward air approaches to the Pacific coast. She spent more than half of 1964 at sea, on various stations 500 to 600 miles off the west coast of the U.S. and Canada. Her sea tours usually included 30 to 35 days at sea, followed by 15 to 30 days in San Francisco between patrols. Struck from the Naval Vessel Register 1 September 1965, Picket joined the Maritime Administration Reserve Fleet, Suisun Bay, San Francisco, Calif., where she remained until scrapped in 1978.