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Unnumbered Vessel Photo Archive

USC&GS Surveyor



Call sign (1919):
George - Vice - Sail - Jig

Call sign (1924):
Nan - Quack - Unit

ex-USS Surveyor

Surveyor served both the U. S. Navy and the Coast and Geodetic Survey

Survey Ship:

  • Built in 1917 as USC&GS Surveyor by the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Co., Manitowoc, WI
  • Acquired by the Navy 24 September 1917
  • Commissioned USS Surveyor 22 October 1917
  • Struck from the Navy list 31 October 1919 and returned to the Coast and Geodetic Survey
  • She then proceeded to the West Coast via the Panama Canal. For the next 36 years Surveyor worked in the waters of the North Pacific and Bering Sea
  • During World War II it conducted defense related surveys in Aleutian waters
  • This vessel is commemorated by the naming a bay in Alaskan waters "Surveyor Bay"
  • Scrapped in 1956.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 1,143 t.
    1919 - 1,000 t.
  • Length 186'
    1919 - 172.8'
  • Beam 34' 1"
  • Draft 12'
  • Speed 13.3 kts.
    1919 - 12 kts.
  • Complement 85
    1919 - 69
  • Armament: Two 3"/50 mounts and two machine guns
    World War II - One 3"/50 dual purpose mount and four 20mm mounts
  • Propulsion: Two single ended boilers, one 1,000hp vertical triple expansion steam engine, one shaft.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Surveyor 94k Photo from 26 July 1916 edition of The Rock Island Argus, Rock Island, IL Mike Mohl
    Photo added 6 November 2020
    Surveyor 71k Surveyor possibly photographed at the time of her completion at Manitowoc, Wisconsin, 1917
    Naval Historical Center photo NH 105641    		 Robert Hurst
    Surveyor 56k Historical Collections of the Great Lakes
    Surveyor 79k Photo from NOAA Photo Library, Sailing for Science Collection via Shipscribe.com Robert Hurst
    Surveyor 150k c. 1927
    Prince William Sound, AK
    Courtesy of NOAA Photo Library, NOAA Central Library; Family of Rear Admiral Paul A. Smith, C&GS    		 NOAA Website
    Surveyor 146k c. 1942
    Sand Point, Shumagan Islands, AK
    Courtesy of NOAA Photo Library, NOAA Central Library; C&GS Season's Report Sosbee 1942-73
    Surveyor 140k c. 1942
    Kodiak, AK
    National Archives photo 80-G-79677 from Shipscribe.com    		 Robert Hurst
    Surveyor 126k c. Spring 1944
    Aleutian Islands, AK
    Courtesy of Captain Harry D. Reed, C&GS    		 NOAA Website
    Surveyor 141k c. 1944
    Adak, Aleutian Islands, AK
    Courtesy of Captain Harry D. Reed, C&GS
    Surveyor 109k 2 October 1944
    Courtesy of NOAA Office of NOAA Corps Operations
    Commanding Officers
    01LCDR Francis H. Hardy, USNRF22 October 1917
    02CAPT Ralph Elton Pope, USN - USNA Class of 1899
    Awarded the Navy Cross (1918) - Retired as Rear Admiral    		1918
    03CAPT Ralph Waldo Dempwolf, USCG - School of Instruction of the Revenue Cutter Service Class of 1905
    Awarded the Legion of Merit (1945) - Retired as Rear Admiral    		August 1918 - 28 February 1919
    04LT Stanley Truman Barker, USNRF28 February 1919 - 31 March 1919
    05LTJG(T) John Black, Jr., USN31 March 1919
    Courtesy Joe Radigan
    View the Surveyor
    DANFS history entry located on the Naval History and Heritage Command website
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    This page created by Joseph M. Radigan and maintained by David Wright
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