The USS Banner (AKL-25/AGER-1) was originally a U.S. Army FS-345, laid down in 1944, and commissioned in 1952. The ship began her service with a Coast Guard crew operating in the Southwest Pacific during the final stages of World War II. The vessel supported Allied advances until moving to reach Manila, where she remained anchored until August 1945. When acquired by the Navy in 1950, she was placed into service with the Military Sea Transportation Service and officially commissioned as USS Banner in Pearl Harbor. Assigned to Service Division 51 in the Pacific Fleet, the vessel conducted vital resupply missions to remote bases across the Pacific, particularly in the Mariana Islands. The ship underwent conversion into an environmental research ship in 1965. In reality, her true role became signals intelligence collection. Redesignated AGER-1 in 1967, she operated gathering intelligence during the Cold War. The USS Banner was declared unfit for service, decommissioned, and struck from the Register in 1969. Many US Navy ships from that era contained asbestos, a toxic contaminant high on veterans' health lists. Former service members harmed by exposure to asbestos dust may qualify for compensation from the asbestos trust funds and the VA.
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