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. After service in the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey as the survey ship USC&GS Pioneer, she returned to the U.S. Navy in 1941 as the salvage ship USS Crusader (ARS-2), serving as such through the end of World War II.
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 United States Coast and Geodetic Survey from 1930.
The United States Coast and Geodetic Survey was the first scientific agency of the United States Government. It existed from 1807 to 1970, and throughout its history was responsible for mapping and charting the coast of the United States, and later the coasts of U.S. territories. In 1871, it gained the additional responsibility of surveying the interior of the United States and geodesy became a more important part of its work, leading to it being renamed the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey in 1878.
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.
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.
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 United States 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.
The first USC&GS Explorer was a steamer that served as a survey ship in the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey from 1904 to 1939 except for a brief time in United States Navy service from 1918 to 1919 for patrol duty in Alaskan waters as USS Explorer during World War I. After initial service along the United States East Coast and off Puerto Rico, the ship transferred to Seattle, Washington in 1907 to begin survey work in Alaskan waters during summer and more southern waters along the United States West Coast in winter. On her return from the Navy in 1919, the ship was condemned and due to be sold but instead was retained as a survey vessel into the fall of 1939. After a stint with the National Youth Administration from 1939 to 1941, she saw service during World War II with the United States Army Corps of Engineers as the freight and supply ship Atkins.
NOAAS Peirce, was an American survey ship that was in commission in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) from 1970 to 1992. Previously, she had been in commission in the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey from 1963 to 1970 as USC&GS Peirce.
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
