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 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 Oceanographer (AGS-3) was a survey ship of the United States Navy during World War II that produced charts chiefly of passages in the Solomon Islands area of the Pacific Ocean. Upon transfer to the Navy, she had initially briefly been named and classed as gunboat USS Natchez (PG-85). Before her World War II Navy service, she had been USC&GS Oceanographer (OSS-26), a survey ship with the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey from 1930.
The fifth USS Ranger (SP-237) was United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1917 to 1919.
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.
USS Surveyor was an armed steamer that served in the United States Navy from 1917 to 1919. Prior to her U.S. Navy service, she operated as the survey ship USC&GS Surveyor for the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey in 1917, and she returned to that role after her U.S. Navy decommissioning, remaining in Coast and Geodetic Survey service until 1956.
USC&GS Natoma was built as the private motorboat Natoma in 1913 for Charles H. Foster, President of the Cadillac Motor Car Company of Chicago. In 1917 the United States Navy acquired the boat for use in World War I. The vessel was commissioned USS Natoma for Section Patrol duties and designated SP-666. Natoma spent the war years patrolling New York harbor and approaches. On 9 April 1919 the boat was transferred to United States Coast and Geodetic Survey surveying on both coasts until 1935.
USC&GS Dailhache was a United States Coast and Geodetic Survey ship in service from 1919 to 1934.
USS Elsie III (SP-708) was a United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1917 to 1919 that saw service during World War I. After the completion of her U.S. Navy career, she was in commission in the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey as the survey launch USC&GS Elsie III from 1919 to 1944.
USC&GS Ranger was a steamer that served in the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey from 1919 to 1930 or 1931.
USC&GS Isis was a survey ship that served in the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey from 1915 to 1917 and from 1919 to 1920.
The second USC&GS Guide was a survey ship that served in the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey from 1941 to 1942.
USC&GS Mikawe was a United States Coast and Geodetic Survey launch in commission from 1920 to 1939.
USS Onward (SP-311), a former yacht named Galatea and then Ungava was a patrol yacht acquired by the U.S. Navy during World War I. She was transferred to the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey where she served briefly until return to the Navy for a brief time before her disposal by sale. She was renamed Thelma Phoebe.
USS Audwin (SP-451) was a patrol vessel that served in the United States Navy from 1917 to 1919. She then was a survey vessel in the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey from 1919 to 1927.
USS John Blish was a Patrol Craft Sweeper (PCS) of the PCS-1376-Class, five of which were converted to small hydrographic survey vessels designated AGS and later coastal survey vessels, AGSc, that conducted hydrographic surveys for the United States Navy during and immediately after the Second World War. The small PCS type vessels assigned to the United States Navy Hydrographic Office missions conducted pre invasion surveys, sometimes under fire, with the survey crews erecting signals for survey and later navigation, laying buoys and placing lights.
USC&GS Derickson was a PCS-1376-class patrol craft sweeper/survey ship in service with the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey. Entering service in 1944, she was out of service by 1948, and sold by 1954.
USS PCS-1450, ex-PC-1450, was a United States Navy minesweeper in commission from 1944 to 1946. She saw service in the latter stages of World War II.
USS Helianthus (SP-585) was a patrol vessel in commission in the United States Navy from 1917 to 1919, seeing service in World War I. After her U.S. Navy service, she was in commission in the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey as the survey launch USC&GS Helianthus from 1919 to 1939. She was named after the Helianthus, the genus to which the sunflower belongs.
USS Scandinavia (SP-3363) was a patrol vessel in commission in the United States Navy from 1918 to 1919, seeing service in World War I. After her U.S. Navy service, she was in commission in the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey as the survey launch USC&GS Scandinavia from 1919.
United States Navy
U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey
