USC&GS Pioneer (1918)

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USC&GS Pioneer (1922).jpg
Pioneer
History
US flag 48 stars.svg Flag of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey.svg United States
Name:Pioneer
Namesake: Pioneer, one who goes before, as into the wilderness, preparing the way for others to follow
Builder: Gas Engine and Power Company, Morris Heights, New York
Laid down: 14 November 1917
Launched: 14 November 1918 [1] or 19 November 1918 [2]
Completed: January 1919
Acquired: 7 April 1922 by U.S. Department of Commerce via transfer from U.S. Navy
In service: 1922
Out of service: 1941
Nickname(s):Pioneer and survey ships USC&GS Discoverer and USC&GS Guide collectively were known as the "Bird Boats"
Fate: Transferred to U.S. Navy 1941
Notes:
General characteristics
Type: Survey ship
Length: 187 ft (57 m)
Beam: 35.6 ft (10.9 m)
Draft: 12.6 ft (3.8 m)
Installed power: 1,400 shaft horsepower (1.05 megawatts)
Propulsion: Two 200-psi Babcock & Wilcox boilers; Harlan and Hollingsworth Corporation vertical triple expansion engine; one shaft
Speed: 14 knots

USC&GS Pioneer was a survey ship that served in the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey from 1922 to 1941. She was the first ship of the Coast and Geodetic Survey to bear the name.

Contents

Construction and United States Navy service

Pioneer was laid down as the United States Navy minesweeper USS Osprey (Minesweeper No. 29) by Gas Engine and Power Company at Morris Heights, New York, on 14 November 1917. She was launched on either 14 November 1918 [1] or 19 November 1918 [2] and was commissioned on 7 January 1919. [1]

United States Navy Naval warfare branch of the United States Armed Forces

The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most capable navy in the world and it has been estimated that in terms of tonnage of its active battle fleet alone, it is larger than the next 13 navies combined, which includes 11 U.S. allies or partner nations. With the highest combined battle fleet tonnage and the world's largest aircraft carrier fleet, with eleven in service, and two new carriers under construction. With 319,421 personnel on active duty and 99,616 in the Ready Reserve, the U.S. Navy is the third largest of the U.S. military service branches in terms of personnel. It has 282 deployable combat vessels and more than 3,700 operational aircraft as of March 2018, making it the third-largest air force in the world, after the United States Air Force and the United States Army.

USS <i>Osprey</i> (AM-29) minesweeper and survey ship of the US

USS Osprey (AM-29) was an Lapwing-class minesweeper commissioned by the United States Navy for service in World War I. She was responsible for removing mines from harbors, and, in her role as rescue and salvage ship, she was responsible for coming to the aid of stricken vessels.

New York (state) State of the United States of America

New York is a state in the Northeastern United States. New York was one of the original thirteen colonies that formed the United States. With an estimated 19.54 million residents in 2018, it is the fourth most populous state. In order to distinguish the state from the city with the same name, it is sometimes referred to as New York State.

Osprey assisted in sweeping the North Sea Mine Barrage in 1919. She spent 1920 in ordinary at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and was redesignated AM-29 that year. She was decommissioned at Portsmouth on 12 December 1920. [1]

North Sea Mine Barrage

The North Sea Mine Barrage, also known as the Northern Barrage, was a large minefield laid easterly from the Orkney Islands to Norway by the United States Navy during World War I. The objective was to inhibit the movement of U-boats from bases in Germany to the Atlantic shipping lanes bringing supplies to the British Isles. Rear Admiral Lewis Clinton-Baker, commanding the Royal Navy minelaying force at the time, described the barrage as the "biggest mine planting stunt in the world's history;" but larger fields containing more mines were laid during World War II.

In ordinary

"In ordinary" is an English phrase. In naval matters, vessels "in ordinary" are those out of service for repair or maintenance, a meaning coming over time to cover a reserve fleet or "mothballed" ships.

Portsmouth, New Hampshire City in New Hampshire, United States

Portsmouth is a city in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 21,233, and in 2018 the estimated population was 21,896. A historic seaport and popular summer tourist destination on the Piscataqua River bordering the state of Maine, Portsmouth was formerly the home of the Strategic Air Command's Pease Air Force Base, since converted to Portsmouth International Airport at Pease.

United States Coast and Geodetic Survey career

In 1922 Osprey steamed to Boston, Massachusetts, where she was transferred to the U.S. Department of Commerce on 7 April 1922. She entered service in the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey that year as the survey ship Pioneer. Pioneer and survey ships USC&GS Discoverer—formerly the U.S. Navy minesweeper USS Auk (AM-38)—and USC&GS Guide—formerly the U.S. Navy minesweeper USS Flamingo (AM-32)—were collectively known in the Coast and Geodetic Survey as the "Bird Boats" because of their former Navy names. Pioneer spent her Coast and Geodetic Survey career on duties on the United States West Coast and in the Territory of Alaska.

Massachusetts State of the United States of America

Massachusetts, officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It borders on the Atlantic Ocean to the east, the states of Connecticut and Rhode Island to the south, New Hampshire and Vermont to the north, and New York to the west. The state is named after the Massachusett tribe, which once inhabited the east side of the area, and is one of the original thirteen states. The capital of Massachusetts is Boston, which is also the most populous city in New England. Over 80% of Massachusetts's population lives in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, a region influential upon American history, academia, and industry. Originally dependent on agriculture, fishing and trade, Massachusetts was transformed into a manufacturing center during the Industrial Revolution. During the 20th century, Massachusetts's economy shifted from manufacturing to services. Modern Massachusetts is a global leader in biotechnology, engineering, higher education, finance, and maritime trade.

USC&GS <i>Discoverer</i> (1918)

The first USC&GS Discoverer was a survey ship that served in the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey from 1922 to 1941.

USS <i>Auk</i> (AM-38) Lapwing-class minesweeper

USS Auk (AM-38) was a Lapwing-class minesweeper acquired by the U.S. Navy after World War I for the task of removing mines that had been placed during the war.

Tragedy struck Pioneer on 11 October 1928 when a member of her crew -- Seaman Earl Forsberg—fell overboard and drowned during a survey of Heceta Bank off the coast of Oregon.

Seaman (rank) Military rank

Seaman is a military rank used in many navies around the world. It is considered a junior enlisted rank and, depending on the navy, it may be a single rank on its own or a name shared by several similarly-junior ranks.

Heceta Bank

Heceta Bank is a rocky bank located 55 kilometers (km) off the Oregon coast near Florence, centered on approximately 44°N, 125°W, and is roughly 29 km long and upwards of 13 km wide. Heceta Bank is an area of ecological and oceanographic importance. The unique bathymetric features and seasonal circulation within the bank provides habitat for a diversity of economically-important fish species.

Oregon State of the United States of America

Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region on the West Coast of the United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. The parallel 42° north delineates the southern boundary with California and Nevada.

In 1934 personnel aboard Pioneer developed a deep sea hydrophone in connection with the Survey's work developing radio acoustic ranging, a system in which a small TNT bomb timed to explode at about 100 ft (30 m) feet, [Note 1] the explosion's sound wave is registered by a hydrophone aboard and hydrophones at two or more known shore locations that then send a radio signal of arrival time back to the vessel for range calculation, to better establish positions beyond shore signal visibility. Pioneer personnel successfully used the hydrophone to a depth of 5,100 ft (1,600 m) off the coast of southern California in the work establishing the velocity and path of sound in the sea. [3]

Radio acoustic ranging

Radio acoustic ranging, occasionally written as "radio-acoustic ranging" and sometimes abbreviated RAR, was a method for determining a ship's precise location at sea by detonating an explosive charge underwater near the ship, detecting the arrival of the underwater sound waves at remote locations, and radioing the time of arrival of the sound waves at the remote stations to the ship, allowing the ship's crew to use triangulation to determine the ship's position. Developed by the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey in 1923 and 1924 for use in accurately fixing the position of survey ships during hydrographic survey operations, it was the first navigation technique in human history other than dead reckoning that did not require visual observation of a landmark, marker, light, or celestial body, and the first non-visual means to provide precise positions. First employed operationally in 1924, radio acoustic ranging remained in use until 1944, when new radio navigation techniques developed during World War II rendered it obsolete.

During her career, Pioneer occasionally rendered assistance to mariners in distress and assisted civil authorities ashore. On 28 November 1934, she sighted a yacht flying a distress signal; closing to investigate, she found that the yacht had a disabled engine and took it in tow off Point Vicente, California. On 20 December 1935, she was pierside at Long Beach, California, California, when a fire broke out on the pier; her crew contained the fire until the local fire department arrived on the scene.

Return to U.S. Navy service

In 1941, Pioneer was transferred back to the U.S. Navy, which commissioned her as the salvage ship USS Crusader (ARS-2). Crusader operated from the Panama Canal Zone throughout World War II. She was decommissioned in 1947 and sold in 1952. [1]

Commemoration

Two underwater geographic features of the Pacific Ocean, Pioneer Seamount and Pioneer Canyon, are named for Pioneer.

Notes

  1. ↑ This was the surface channel, not the deeper SOFAR channel.

Related Research Articles

U.S. National Geodetic Survey

The National Geodetic Survey (NGS), formerly the United States Survey of the Coast (1807–1836), United States Coast Survey (1836–1878), and United States Coast and Geodetic Survey (USC&GS) (1878–1970), is a United States federal agency that defines and manages a national coordinate system, providing the foundation for transportation and communication; mapping and charting; and a large number of applications of science and engineering. Since its foundation in its present form in 1970, it has been part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), of the United States Department of Commerce.

USS <i>Viking</i> (ARS-1) ARS-1

USS Flamingo (AM-32) was a Lapwing-class minesweeper built for the United States Navy near the end of World War I. After service overseas clearing mines after the Armistice, the ship was laid up until 1922 when she was transferred to the United States Department of Commerce for use by the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey. Renamed USC&GS Guide, the ship operated as a survey vessel along the West Coast of the United States for 17 years, making significant contributions to navigation, hydrographic surveying, and oceanography. In June 1941, Guide was transferred back to the Navy, converted into a salvage ship, and renamed USS Viking (ARS-1). As Viking, she worked primarily from bases in California until 1953, when she was sold for scrapping.

USS <i>Oceanographer</i> (AGS-3)

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USS <i>Surveyor</i> (1917)

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USS <i>Elsie III</i> (SP-708)

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USC&GS <i>Guide</i> (1929)

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Naval History & Heritage Command. "Osprey". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Naval History & Heritage Command. Retrieved 19 March 2012.
  2. 1 2 "USS Crusader (ARS 2)". NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive. NavSource. Retrieved 19 March 2012.
  3. ↑ U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey (1934). Annual Report Of The Superintendent, United States Coast And Geodetic Survey To The Secretary of Commerce For The Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1934. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. pp. 124–125.
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