>From the “Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships,” 

(1968) Vol. 3, p.110.





GLOVER





	John Glover, born 5 November 1732 at Salem, Mass., 

became a wealthy merchant and shipowner in Marblehead, 

Mass., prior to the Revolutionary War.  A leading member of 

the Marblehead committee of correspondence, in 1775 he 

formed a local militia to defend the area.  Made up of 

sailing men, his unit also trained as infantrymen and later 

became known as the “amphibious regiment.”  Soon after 

taking formal command of the Continental Army, 3 July, 

General George Washington placed Glover in command of 

equipping and manning armed merchant ships for the defense 

of the colonies, thus forming our first deep water force, 

“George Washington’s Navy.”  Following the British 

evacuation of Boston 17 March 1776, he was ordered to New 

York where his regiment transported troops during their 

evacuation from Long Island.  In December, they transported 

Washington’s troops across the Delaware River, and, during 

the successful attack on Trenton 26 December, his regiment 

led the advance.  Promoted to Brigadier General in February 

1777, he participated in the campaign against Burgoyne’s 

forces.  After the British surrender 17 October, he 

returned prisoners to Boston for shipment back to England.  

While stationed at West Point in 1780, General Glover 

served on the court that convicted Major John Andre 29 

September of spying.  Early in 1782, he was dispatched to 

Massachusetts to take charge of mustering recruits, but 

failing health forced him to retire from active duty.  He 

remained in Massachusetts after the war and during January 

and February 1788 served as a member of the Massachusetts 

convention which ratified the Federal Constitution.  He 

died at Marblehead 30 January 1797.





AGDE-1

Displacement:  3,426 tons 

Length:  414’6”

Beam:  44’1”

Draft:  24’2”

Speed:  27.5 k.

Complement:  239

Armament:  1 5”; 4 21” torpedo tubes; 

        2 Tartar missile launchers

Class:  GLOVER



	GLOVER (AGDE-1) was laid down 29 July 1963 by Bath Iron 

Works, Bath, Maine; launched 17 April 1965; sponsored by 

Mrs. William S. Pederson, Sr., and Mrs. Claude V. Signor, 

great-great-great-granddaughters of General Glover; and 

commissioned at Boston 13 November 1965, Comdr. William W. 

Wilson in command.



	Fitted out with advanced sonar and antisubmarine 

weapons, GLOVER is designed to serve as an experimental 

research escort for developing and testing the latest 

antisubmarine weapons systems.  As a research ship, she will 

test equipment designed to more readily detect and track 

enemy submarines, and she will evaluate tactics and 

procedures which may be used by future classes of escorts.  

Capable of participating in offensive operations against 

submarines, she will provide valuable support for 

hunter-killer groups, amphibious forces, and ocean convoys.



	GLOVER joined the U.S. Atlantic Fleet in 1966 as a unit 

of Cruiser-Destroyer Forces and operated along the Atlantic 

Coast and in the Caribbean.  September, she entered Boston 

Naval Shipyard for modifications.



	[Originally planned as Environmental Research Ship 

AGER-158 under fiscal year 1960, she was cancelled on 16 

December 1959 and reintroduced as AGER-163 in the fiscal 

year 1961 program.  She was soon redesignated Escort 

Research Ship AGDE-1 and again to Frigate Research Ship 

AGFF-1 on 30 June 1975.  She was essentially a DE-1040 

(GARCIA) class ship with a shrouded propeller and a raised 

stern to accommodate experimental sonar equipment.  In 1979, 

she was reassigned to regular frigate duty and, on 1 October 

of that year, was given the hull number of a cancelled 

KNOX-class ship, FF-1098.  On 15 June 1990, she was 

reclassified back to AGFF-1 and transferred to the Military 

Sealift Command as a sonar trials ship without armament.  

GLOVER was deactivated on 28 August 1992 and stricken from 

the Navy Register on 20 November of that year.  Sold on 15 

April 1994 to N. R. Acquisition Inc., New York City, for 

$80,743.79, the ship was scrapped by a subcontractor in 

Wilmington, North Carolina beginning on 8 November 1995.]



K. Jack Bauer and Stephen S. Roberts, “Register of Ships of 

the U. S. Navy, 1775-1990,” p.244.

“Naval Institute Guide to Combat Fleets of the World, 1995,” 

p.938.

Naval Institute “Proceedings,” May 1995, p.221. 

Internet Site:  United States Naval & Shipbuilding Museum

        www.uss-salem.org/worldnav/usa/decom.htm





Transcribed by Michael Hansen

mhansen2@home.com