Vigil (YAGR-12) was laid down on 14 December 1944, under a Maritime Commission (MARCOM) contract, MC hull 2339, as the Liberty Ship Raymond Van Brogan, by J.A.

She was launched 27 January 1945; sponsored by Mrs. Mary Anne Durham, wife of manager machinery JAJCC; and delivered 10 February 1945, to the War Shipping Administration.

[5] Nine years later, in June 1956, she was brought out of the US Maritime Commission's (MARCOM) reserve fleet for conversion to a radar picket ship and active service with the Navy.

The ship operated out of Davisville, Rhode Island, during her entire period of service, and spent on the average of 200 days per year engaged in picket patrols in waters off the coast of New England.

Her name was struck from the Navy List on 1 April 1965, and she was returned to the MARCOM for lay up with the Hudson River Reserve Fleet, Jones Point, New York.