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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

Patch contributed by Mike Smolinski

ARS-8 Preserver

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - Combat Action Ribbon (retroactive - 20 October 1944) - Navy Unit Commendation - Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation (3)
Second Row - Navy Battle "E" Ribbon (4) - American Campaign Medal - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal
Second Row - World War II Victory Medal - Navy Occupation Service Medal (with Asia clasp) - National Defense Service Medal
Third Row - Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (2 Dominican Republic) - Coast Guard Unit Commendation - Philippines Liberation Medal

Diver Class Rescue and Salvage Ship:

Laid down, 26 October 1942 at Basalt Rock Co., Napa, CA.

Launched, 1 April 1943

Commissioned USS Preserver (ARS-8), 11 January 1944

Decommissioned, 23 April 1947, at San Diego, CA.

Laid up in the Pacific Reserve Fleet, San Diego Group

Recommissioned, 1 December 1950, at San Diego

Decommissioned, 7 August 1992

Transferred to the Maritime Administration (MARAD) for lay up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, James River, Fort Eustis, VA, 1 February 1993

Struck from the Naval Register, 16 March 1994

Final Disposition, moved to Bay Bridge Enterprises yard at Chesapeake, VA., 30 November 2005, for dismantling. Note: Bay Bridge was paid a combined $442,640 to dismantle Preserver and Marshfield (T-AK-282)

Preserver received three battle stars for World War II service

Specifications:
Displacement 1,630 t.
Length 213' 6"
Beam 39'
Draft 14' 4"
Speed 15 kts.
Complement 120
Armament four 40mm guns, four .50 cal machine guns
Propulsion diesel-electric, twin screws, 2,780hp

Size	Image Description	Contributed By
40k	Preserver (ARS-8) underway, date and place unknown.	Craig Rothhammer via NAFTS National Association of Fleet Tug Sailors
165k	Forward plan view of Preserver (ARS-8) at Navy Yard Mare Island, Vallejo, CA., 28 March 1946. *Preserver* is outboard of Deliver (ARS-23). Navy Yard Mare Island photo # 1243-46	Darryl Baker
178k	Aft plan view of Preserver (ARS-8) at Navy Yard Mare Island, Vallejo, CA., 28 March 1946. *Preserver* is outboard of Deliver (ARS-23) Navy Yard Mare Island photo # 1244-46	Darryl Baker
89k	Preserver (ARS-8) moored, stern view, 2 March 1956, place unknown.	Melissa Fish for her father Robert Pooler USS Preserver, 1951-56
108k	Preserver (ARS-8) earned the Meritorious Unit Commendation award for service, from 11 March to 5 April 1968, in removing more than one million gallons of crude oil from the bow section of S/T Ocean Eagle, re-floating the wreck, towing it to sea and sinking it well beyond the shores of Puerto Rico. US Navy "All Hands" magazine, May 1979	Orlando Gallardo
62k	Preserver (ARS-8) at anchor at the Space Shuttle Challenger salvage site, March 1986. US Navy photo by JOC(SS) Peter D. Sundberg USN, FLTAVCOMLANT NORVA.	Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
64k	Preserver (ARS-8) in the Chesapeake Bay, during sea trials, circa 1983.	Charles Lagoueyte
52k	Preserver (ARS-8) in the Chesapeake Bay, during sea trials, circa 1983.	Charles Lagoueyte
60k	Preserver (ARS-8) underway, date and place unknown.	Tom Langford
86k	Preserver (ARS-8) underway for the last time, not under her own power, as she is moved to Bay Bridge Enterprises yard at Chesapeake, VA., for dismantling, 30 November 2005 .	Mabel Clark

View the Preserver (ARS-8)
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
National Association of Fleet Tug Sailors

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Last Updated 16 February 2007