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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

AP-4 / AS-10 / AG-31 Argonne


Contributed by Don McGrogan, BMCS, USN Ret.
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons


Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - American Campaign Medal
Bottom Row - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (1) - World War II Victory Medal - Navy Occupation Service Medal (with Asia clasp)
Argonne Class Transport:
  • Built in 1920 under a USSB contract at American International Shipbuilding Corp., Hog Island, PA.
  • Acquired by the Navy, 5 November 1921
  • Commissioned USS Argonne, 8 November 1921, at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, LCDR. Theodore H. Winters in command
  • Designated AP-4, 16 November 1921
  • Converted to a Submarine Tender and redesignated (AS-10), 1 July 1924
  • Redesignated a Miscellaneous Auxiliary, (AG-31) 25 July 1940
  • At the beginning of World War II in the Pacific Argonne was a Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941
  • Decommissioned, 15 July 1946, at Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, CA.
  • Struck from the Naval Register, 28 August 1946
  • Transferred to the Maritime Commission for disposal, 31 July 1946
  • Final Disposition, sold for scrapping, 14 August 1950, to Boston Metals Co., Baltimore, MD.
  • Argonne (AG-31) was awarded one battle star for World War II service
    Specifications:
    Displacement 8,400 t.
    Length 448'
    Beam 58' 3"
    Draft 18' 7" (mean)
    Speed 16.5 kts.
    Complement (AG) 398
    Armament four 5" gun mounts, four 3" gun mounts, two 6-pdrs
    Propulsionsystem unknown
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    USS Argonne (AP-4)
    Argonne 71k Argonne (AP-4) off Navy Yard Mare Island, Vallejo, CA., 4 July 1923, in her original configuration as a transport. Note the lifeboats for passengers on the main deckhouse.
    US Navy photo # NH 99115 from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center, collection of Lieutenant Kelly Green.    		 US Naval Historical Center
    USS Argonne (AS-10)
    Argonne 115k Argonne (AS-10) at San Diego, CA., 10 December 1927 with. submarines (from left to right):
    V-2 (SF-5) later renamed Bass;
    V-1 (SF-4), later renamed Barracuda; and
    V-3 (SF-6), later renamed Bonita.
    US Navy photo # NH 69094 from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center, courtesy of the San Francisco Maritime Museum, San Francisco, CA., 1969.    		 US Naval Historical Center
    Argonne 131k Argonne (AS-10) in Panama waters, 1927-1928, while en route to join the Battle Fleet. The submarines alongside her are (from outboard to inboard):
    V-2 (SF-5), later renamed Bass;
    V-1 (SF-4), later renamed Barracuda; and
    V-3 (SF-6), later renamed Bonita.
    US Navy photo # NH 61683 from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center.    		 US Naval Historical Center
    Argonne 108k Port side view of Argonne (AS-10) at San Diego, CA., date unknown, with submarines alongside.
    US Navy photo.         		Courtesy Randy Guttery
    Tendertales Web Site
    Argonne 51k Argonne (AS-10) at anchor, circa 1930s. Note that she has an apparent rangefinder over the bridge even though she carries no armament.
    US Navy photo # NH 67497 from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center, courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1969.    		 US Naval Historical Center
    Argonne 68k Argonne (AS-10) at anchor, circa 1930s. Note that she has an apparent rangefinder over the bridge even though she carries no armament.
    US Navy photo # NH 58034 from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center, collection of Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, USN, who (as a Captain) returned to the U.S. from Pearl Harbor on board Argonne in 1922.    		 US Naval Historical Center
    Argonne 83k Argonne (AS-10) at New York City, probably during one of her visits there in 1930 or 1934.
    US Navy photo # NH 83457 from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center, Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1969.    		 US Naval Historical Center
    Argonne 63k Argonne (AS-10) moored to a buoy in the mid-1930s, place unknown.
    US Navy photo # NH 99116 from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center, collection of Admiral Arleigh A. Burke, USN.    		 US Naval Historical Center
    Argonne 58k Argonne (AS-10) moored to a buoy in the mid-1930s, place unknown.
    US Navy photo # NH 57638 from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center.    		 US Naval Historical Center
    USS Argonne (AG-31)
    Argonne 52k Argonne (AG-31) at Navy Yard Pearl Harbor as flagship for the Base Force, 11 August 1941. Her camouflage is Measure 1 (dark gray with light gray mast tops), and she is flying the flags G-31--her hull number. The four-piper destroyers (or DM/DMS conversions) in the background are also in Measure One camouflage, with haze grey masts and funnel tops.
    US National Archives photo # 19-N-25207, from the Bureau of Ships Collection now in the U.S. National Archives.    		 US Naval Historical Center
    Argonne 78k Argonne (AG-31) at Navy Yard Pearl Harbor, 11 August 1941, during a refit. The ship, previously unarmed, had her long-assigned armament of 4 5"/51 guns (one visible here) and 4 3" anti-aircraft guns installed during this refit. The two forward kingposts have been removed and the crowsnest relocated high up just before the bridge. The ship is being repainted into Measure One camouflage. The car on the pier is parked in a space marked "Commanding Officer, USS Argonne".
    US National Archives photo # 19-N-25204, from the Bureau of Ships Collection now in the U.S. National Archives.    		 US Naval Historical Center
    Argonne 65k Argonne (AG-31) at Navy Yard Pearl Harbor, 11 August 1941, during a refit. The provisional anti-aircraft armament of 4 3"/23 guns installed during this refit in the new gun tubs just aft of the stack was replaced in May 1942 by 4 3"/50 AA guns. Note the two styles of life rafts (also added during this refit) and the cars in marked parking spaces on the pier.
    US National Archives photo # 19-N-25206, from the Bureau of Ships Collection now in the U.S. National Archives.    		 US Naval Historical Center
    Argonne 71k Argonne (AG-31) at Navy Yard Pearl Harbor, 11 August 1941, during a refit. The ship, previously unarmed, had her long-assigned armament of 4 5"/51 guns (one visible here) and 4 3" anti-aircraft guns installed during this refit. The ship is being repainted into Measure One camouflage.
    US National Archives photo # 19-N-25205, from the Bureau of Ships Collection now in the U.S. National Archives.    		 US Naval Historical Center
    Argonne 101k Pearl Harbor, 7 December 1941. View looking toward 1010 Dock, with Oglala (CM-4) capsized in the foreground. To the left is Argonne (AG-31), with Sacramento (PG-19)barely visible beyond her.
    US Navy photo # NH 83066, from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center, collection of Vice Admiral Homer N. Wallin.    		 US Naval Historical Center
    Argonne 91k Argonne (AG-31) at Seeadler Harbor, Manu, Admiralty Islands, 10 November 1944 after the explosion of Mount Hood (AE-11). Argonne was damaged from the concussion of the explosion as well as the Quonset huts atop barge YF-681 that was alongside Argonne at the time of the blast.
    US Navy photo # NH 95406, from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center, copied from the War Diary, Manus Naval Base, for November 1944.    		 US Naval Historical Center
    Argonne 74k Argonne (AG-31) underway in San Francisco Bay, CA., between late 1945 and mid-1946. The ship may be concluding a voyage bringing servicemen home from the Western Pacific as part of Operation "Magic Carpet." The gun tub on the forecastle was added in 1942 for 20mm anti-aircraft guns.
    US Navy photo # NH 98750, from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center, donation of Boatswain's Mate First Class Robert G. Tippins, USN (Retired), 2003.    		 US Naval Historical Center
    View the Argonne (AS-10)
    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
    Argonne (AG-31) Pearl Harbor Action Report US Naval Historical Center
    Submarine Tenders of the United States Navy
    Back to the Navsource Photo Archives Main Page Back To the Service Force Ship Type Index Back To the Transport (AP) Photo Index Back To The Submarine Tender (AS) Photo Index Back To the Miscellaneous Unclassified (AG) Photo Index

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    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
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    Last Updated 26 May 2006