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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

AG-30 / AGS-4 Bowditch

Flag Hoist/International Radio Call Sign:
November - Charlie - Foxtrot - Juliet
 NCFJ
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons


Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - American Defense Service Medal (with Fleet clasp) - American Campaign Medal
Bottom Row - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (3) - World War II Victory Medal - Navy Occupation Service Medal (with Asia clasp)
  • Laid down (date unknown) as the passenger ship SS Santa Inez in 1929 by Burmeister and Wain, Copenhagen, Denmark
  • Purchased by the US Navy, 4 March 1940
  • Converted for Naval Service at Norfolk, Navy Yard, Portsmouth, VA.
  • Commissioned as Miscellaneous Auxiliary USS Bowditch (AG-30), 1 July 1940, CDR. E. E. Duval in command
  • During World War II Bowditch served in the Pacific Theater and participated in the following campaigns:
    Asiatic-Pacific Campaigns
    Campaign and Dates Campaign and Dates
    Marshall Islands operations
    Occupation of Kwajalein and Majuro Atolls, 4 February to 2 April 1944     		Okinawa Gunto operation
    Assault and occupation of Okinawa Gunto, 18 April to 2 September 1945
    Marianas operation
    Capture and occupation of Saipan, 22 July to 4 October 1944     		.

  • Redesigned Survey Ship, (AGS-4), 11 December 1943
  • Decommissioned, 31 January 1947, at Norfolk, VA.
  • Struck from the Naval Register (date unknown)
  • Transferred to the Maritime Commission, 9 June 1948, for disposal
  • Final Disposition, fate unknown
  • Bowditch received three battle stars for her World War II service
    Specifications:
    Displacement 5,405 t.
    Length 386'
    Beam 53'
    Draft 21' 6"
    Speed 12 kts.
    Complement 406
    Armament four single 3"/50 dual purpose gun mounts
    Propulsion system unknown
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed By/Source
    Commercial Service
    Bowditch 61k SS Santa Inez underway circa 1940.
    Photo courtesy "©James Fighting Ships 1943-1944"    		 Robert Hurst
    USS Bowditch (AGS-4)
    Bowditch 44k Bowditch (AGS-4) underway, date and place unknown. Hyperwar US Navy in WWII
    Bowditch 32k Bowditch (AGS-4) underway, date and place unknown. Hyperwar US Navy in WWII
    Bowditch 112k Bowditch (AGS-4) at anchor, date and place unknown. Contributed by the family of George L. Anderson CO Bowditch, to NOAA
    Bowditch 176k Forward plan view of Bowditch (AGS-4) at Mare Island Naval Shipyard, 18 January 1946, undergoing inclining experiment.
    Mare Island Naval Shipyard photo # 201-46.    		 Darryl Baker
    Bowditch 139k Amidship looking aft plan view of Bowditch (AGS-4) at Mare Island Naval Shipyard, 29 January 1946.
    Mare Island Naval Shipyard photo # 327-46.    		 Darryl Baker
    Bowditch 158k Forward plan view of Bowditch (AGS-4) at Mare Island Naval Shipyard, 29 January 1946.
    Mare Island Naval Shipyard photo # 328-46.    		 Darryl Baker
    Bowditch 69k Stern view of Bowditch (AGS-4) departing Mare Island Naval Shipyard, 29 January 1946.
    Mare Island Naval Shipyard photo # 523-46.    		 Darryl Baker
    Bowditch 91k Broadside view of Bowditch (AGS-4) departing Mare Island Naval Shipyard, 29 January 1946.
    Mare Island Naval Shipyard photo # 525-46.    		 Darryl Baker
    Bowditch 78k Bow on view of Bowditch (AGS-4) getting underway with the assistance of a tug while departing Mare Island Naval Shipyard, 29 January 1946.
    Mare Island Naval Shipyard photo # 527-46.    		 Darryl Baker
    View the Bowditch (AGS-4)
    DANFS history entry located at the US Naval Historical Center
    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    U.S.Navy Memorial Foundation
    Fleet Reserve Association
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    Navy Survey Ships (AGS) Designator Listing
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    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
    © 2005 Gary P. Priolo © 1996 - 2008 NavSource Naval History. All Rights Reserved.
    Last Updated 1 February 2008