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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

AGS-1 Pathfinder


Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons


Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - Combat Action Ribbon (retroactive- 6 May 1945) - American Campaign Medal - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (2)
Bottom Row - World War II Victory Medal - Navy Occupation Service Medal (with Asia clasp) - Philippines Liberation Medal

Individual Awards

Purple Heart (1 KIA, 6 May 1945)
Pathfinder Class Survey Ship:
  • Laid down in 1929, at Lake Washington Shipyard, Houghton, WA., as the Survey Vessel Pathfinder for the Coast and Geodetic Survey
  • Launched, 11 January 1942
  • Acquired and Commissioned, USS Pathfinder (AGS-1), 31 August 1942
  • Decommissioned, 31 January 1946
  • Transferred to the Commerce Department, 22 August 1946
  • Returned to the Coast and Geodetic Survey, 1 October 1946, redesignated USC&GSS Pathfinder (OSS-30)
  • Struck from the Naval Register, 13 November 1946
  • Final Disposition, retired from NOAA service, 1971, fate unknown
  • Pathfinder (AGS-1) received two battle stars for World War II service
    Specifications:
    Displacement 2,175 t.
    Length 229' 4"
    Beam 39'
    Draft 16'
    Speed 14 kts.
    Complement 158
    Armament two 3"/50 guns, two depth charge tracks, two depth charge projectors
    Propulsion steam turbine, single screw, 2,000shp
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image
    Size Image Description Source
    USS Pathfinder (AGS-1)
    Pathfinder 19k Pathfinder (AGS-1) at anchor, date and place unknown. Hyperwar US Navy in WWII
    Pathfinder 108k Pathfinder (AGS-1) underway, date and place unknown NOAA web site
    Pathfinder 168k Pathfinder (AGS-1) underway, date and place unknown.
    US Navy photo
    NOAA web site
    Contributed by Association of Commissioned Officers
    USCGSS Pathfinder (OOS030)
    Pathfinder 189k USCGSS Pathfinder (OSS-30) serving as a survey ship for the Coast and Geodetic Survey, underway, date and place unknown.
    US Navy photo from DANFS.
    Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.

    View the Pathfinder (AGS-1)
    DANFS history entry located at the US Naval Historical Center web site.
    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    U.S.Navy Memorial Foundation
    Fleet Reserve Association

    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    NOAA Historical Image Collection
    Navy Survey Ships (AGS) Designator Listing
    Pathfinder: Recollections of those who Served 1942-1971
    Back to the Navsource Photo Archives Main Page Back To The Service Ship Photo Index Back To The Survey Ship (AGS) Photo Index
    Comments, Suggestions, E-mail Webmaster.
    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
    © 2005 Gary P. Priolo © 1996 - 2008 NavSource Naval History. All Rights Reserved.