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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

ARS-27 / AGOR-18 Snatch
R/V Argo

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 Service Medal - World War II Victory Medal - Philippines Liberation Medal
Diver Class Rescue and Salvage Ship:
  • Laid down, 28 January 1943, at Basalt Rock Co., Napa, CA.
  • Launched, 8 April 1944
  • Commissioned USS Snatch (ARS-27), 11 December 1944
  • Decommissioned, 23 December 1946, at San Diego, CA.
  • Laid up in the Pacific Reserve Fleet, San Diego Group
  • Assigned to the Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS)
  • Reclassified Oceanographic Research Ship, (T-AGOR-18), April 1967
  • Custody assigned to Scripps Oceanographic Research Institute, La Jolla, CA., unofficially name R/V Argo
  • Returned to US Naval custody in March 1970
  • Struck from the Naval Register, 1 May 1970
  • Final Disposition, sold for scrapping, 8 November 1971, to S.S. Zee, Taiwan
    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
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    USS Snatch (ARS-27)
    Snatch 134k The crew of Snatch (ARS 27) at quarters for the commissioning of the ship at Basalt Rock Co., Shipyard, Napa, CA. Basalt was about 10 miles north of Mare Island up the Napa River.
    Navy Yard Mare Island photo # 7639-44    		 Darryl Baker
    Snatch 41k Snatch (ARS-27) at Eniwetok, Marshall Islands, circa 5 to 9 April 1945, to participate in the salvage operations of SS Esso Washington which was grounded near the entrance of Eniwetok Passage. SS Esso Washington can be seen in the left background of this photo. Chuck Trauth RM3/c USS Snatch, 1945-46
    R/V Argo
    Snatch 73k R/V Argo fitted out with research gear from the University of California, Scripps Institute of Oceanography under contract for the Office of Naval Research, date and place unknown.
    US Navy photo from "All Hands" magazine November 1967.    		 Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
    Snatch 61k R/V Argo underway, date and place unknown.
    US Navy photo from DANFS.    		 Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
    View the Snatch (ARS-27)
    DANFS history entry located at the US Naval Historical Center web site
    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation - Navy Log
    Fleet Reserve Association
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    National Association of Fleet Tug Sailors
    Back to the Navsource Photo Archives Main Page Back To The Service Ship Photo Index Back To The Rescue and Salvage Ship (ARS) Photo Index Back To The Oceanographic Research (AGOR) Photo Index
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    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
    © 2005 Gary P. Priolo © 1996 - 2009 NavSource Naval History. All Rights Reserved.
    Last Updated 23 June 2006