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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive
Patch contributed by Mike Smolinski

USS Preserver (ARS-8)

International Radio Call Sign:
November - Quebec - Oscar - Delta
 NQOD
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 (3)
Second Row - World War II Victory Medal - Navy Occupation Service Medal (with Asia clasp) - National Defense Service Medal (3)
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, LCDR. A. T. Ostrander in command
  • During World War II USS Preserver was assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific Theater and participated in the following campaigns:
    Asiatic-Pacific Campaigns
    Campaign and Dates Campaign and Dates
    Marianas operation
    Capture and occupation of Saipan, 15 June to 7 August 1944     		Leyte operation
    Leyte landings, 20 October 1944
    Tinian capture and occupation, 24 July to 1 August 1944  

    Following World War II USS Preserver was assigned to Occupation service in the Far East from 20 September 1945 to 11 January 1946
  • 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, 30 September 1986
  • Recommissioned, 26 September 1987
  • 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 USS Preserver and USNS Marshfield (T-AK-282)
  • USS 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 single 40mm AA gun mounts
    four .50 cal machine guns
    Propulsion diesel-electric, twin screws, 2,780hp
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    Preserver 40k USS Preserver (ARS-8) underway, date and location unknown. Craig Rothhammer
    via NAFTS
    National Association
    of Fleet Tug Sailors
    Preserver 165k Forward plan view of USS Preserver (ARS-8) at Navy Yard Mare Island, Vallejo, CA., 28 March 1946. USS Preserver is outboard of USS Deliver (ARS-23).
    Navy Yard Mare Island photo # 1243-46    		 Darryl Baker
    Preserver 178k Aft plan view of USS Preserver (ARS-8) at Navy Yard Mare Island, Vallejo, CA., 28 March 1946. USS Preserver is outboard of USS Deliver (ARS-23)
    Navy Yard Mare Island photo # 1244-46    		 Darryl Baker
    Preserver 89k Stern view of USS Preserver (ARS-8), 2 March 1956, while moored at the D & S Piers, Naval Station, Norfolk, VA. Melissa Fish for her father Robert Pooler USS Preserver, 1951-56
    Preserver 108k USS 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
    Preserver 62k USS 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.
    Preserver 64k USS Preserver (ARS-8) in the Chesapeake Bay, during sea trials, circa 1983. Charles Lagoueyte
    Preserver 52k USS Preserver (ARS-8) in the Chesapeake Bay, during sea trials, circa 1983. Charles Lagoueyte
    Preserver 60k USS Preserver (ARS-8) underway, date and location unknown. Tom Langford
    Preserver 108k A diver in a MK12 diving suit goes over the side of USS Preserver (ARS-8) to recover wreckage from the space shuttle Challenger in the Atlantic Ocean in February 1986. Tommy Trampp
    Preserver 60k
    Preserver 112k
    Preserver 120k
    Nahoke 143k Aerial view of USS Preserver (ARS-8) and Nahoke (YTB-536) at sea, date and location unknown.US Navy photo Robert Hurst
    Denebola 128k USS Preserver (ARS-8) moored astern of an LST and across from USS Denebola (AF-56) at Naval Station Norfolk, VA., date unknown. Note the floating crane between the piers. Richard Miller, BMCS USNR Ret.
    Preserver 86k USS 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

    For more information about USS Preserver, see;
  • Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships
  • National Association of Fleet Tug Sailors
  • Commanding Officers
    • Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation - Navy Log
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    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
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    Last Updated 18 May 2012