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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

AR-1 Medusa

International Radio Call Sign:
November - Echo - Mike - Charlie
 NEMC
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons


Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - Combat Action Ribbon (retroactive, 7 December 1941, Pearl Harbor) - American Defense Service Medal (with Fleet clasp) - American Campaign Medal
Bottom Row - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (1) - World War II Victory Medal - Philippines Liberation Medal
Medusa Class Fleet Repair Ship:
  • Laid down, 2 January 1920, at Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, WA.
  • Launched, 16 April 1920
  • Commissioned USS Medusa (AR-1), 18 September 1924, CAPT. R. T. Menner in command
  • USS Medusa was at Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941
  • Decommissioned, 18 November 1947 at Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, WA.
  • Struck from the Naval Register (date unknown)
  • Transferred to the Maritime Commission for disposal
  • Final Disposition, sold for scrapping, 24 August 1950, to Ziedell Shipwrecking Co., Portland, OR.
  • USS Medusa (AR-1) received one battle star for World War II service
    Specifications:
    Displacement 10,620 t.
    Length 483' 10"
    Beam 40'
    Draft 20' 6"
    Speed 16 kts.
    Complement 512
    Armament
    four single 5"/38 dual purpose gun mounts
    two 3"/50 dual purpose gun mounts
    Propulsion system unknown
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Contributed By
    Medusa 53k USS Medusa (AR-1) at anchor, circa 1925, location unknown. Robert Hurst
    Medusa 58k USS Medusa (AR-1) at anchor, circa 1920s, location unknown. Robert Hurst
    Medusa 132k Dutch submarine K XIII in Navy Yard Mare Island Dry Dock #2, 4 September 1926. USS Medusa (AR-1) is in the background.
    Navy Yard Mare Island photo    		 Darryl Baker
    Medusa 102k USS Medusa (AR-1) moored, date and location unknown.
    US National Archives photo # 80-G-466212, a US Navy photo now in the collections of the US National Archives     		US National Archives
    Medusa 62k USS Medusa (AR-1) at anchor, date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo # NH 83333.    		 Jon Burdett and John Chiquoine
    Melville 100k USS Medusa (AD-1) in Balboa Harbor, Panama Canal Zone, 24 April 1934. From the bottom to the top of the photo several US Navy and British ships are present including USS Zane (DD-337) and another destroyer alongside USS Melville (AD-2), USS Medusa (AR-1), USS Litchfield (DD-336), HMS Exeter and another destroyer nested with USS Truxtun (DD-229).
    US Navy photo # NH 60813 from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center.    		 US Naval Historical Center
    Curtiss 87k USS Medusa (AR-1) at her mooring in Peal Harbor soon after the Japanese raid of 7 December 1941. The damaged USS Curtiss (AV-4), is moored to starboard of USS Medusa
    Note that USS Curtiss (AV-4) has been fitted with an air search radar.
    US National Archives photo # 80-G-32733, a US Navy photo now in the collections of the National Archives         		US Naval Historical Center
    Medusa 34k USS Medusa (AR-1) moored, date and location unknown. Note the anti-torpedo nets around the ship. Hyperwar US Navy in WWII
    View the USS Medusa (AR-1)
    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
    Pearl Harbor Action Report
    Back To The Navsource Photo Archives Main Page Back To The Service Ship Photo Index Back To The Repair Ship (AR) Photo Index
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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 12 May 2008