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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

USC&GSS Pathfinder (OSS-30)
ex
 USS Pathfinder (AGS-1) (1942 - 1946)
 USC&GSS Pathfinder (1929 - 1942)

International Radio Call Sign:
November - Charlie - Bravo - Golf
NCBG
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:
  • Built in 1929, at Lake Washington Shipyard, Houghton, WA., as the Survey Vessel Pathfinder for the Coast and Geodetic Survey
  • Launched, date unknown
  • Acquired by the US Navy and commissioned, USS Pathfinder (AGS-1), 31 August 1942, CAPT. Bascom H. Thomas, USNR, in command
  • During World War II USS Pathfinder was assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific Theater and participated in the following campaigns:
    Asiatic-Pacific Campaigns
    Campaign and Dates Campaign and Dates
    Consolidation of southern Solomons, 7 April 1943 Okinawa Gunto operation
    Assault and occupation of Okinawa Gunto, 6 May to 30 June 1945

  • 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 single 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 USS Pathfinder (AGS-1) at anchor, date and location unknown. Hyperwar US Navy in WWII
    Pathfinder 108k USS Pathfinder (AGS-1) underway, date and location unknown NOAA web site
    Pathfinder 168k USS Pathfinder (AGS-1) underway, date and location 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.
    Pathfinder 474k USCGSS Pathfinder (OSS-30) crew and officers in formation at Pearl Harbor in April 1962. Moored astern of Pathfinder is the fleet oiler USS USS Ponchatoula (AO-148).
    NOAA Image pers0245, April 1962, by Bernard Mayo Rivera, Credit the Family of Captain David M. Whipp, C&GS.    		 Bill Gonyo
    View the USS Pathfinder (AGS-1)
    DANFS history entry located at the US Naval Historical Center
    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation - Navy Log
    Fleet Reserve Association
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    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
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    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
    © 2005 Gary P. Priolo © 1996 - 2009 NavSource Naval History. All Rights Reserved.
    Last Updated 7 November 2008