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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

Contributed by Mike Smolinski

ARS-39 Conserver

Flag Hoist/International Radio Call Sign:
November - Hotel - Tango - Papa NHTP

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Secretary of the Navy Letter of Commendation
Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation
Second Row - Navy Battle "E" Ribbon (4) - China Service Medal - American Campaign Medal
Third Row - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal - World War II Victory Medal - Navy Occupation Service Medal (with Asia clasp)
Fourth Row - National Defense Service Medal (2) - Korean Service Medal (8) - Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (Taiwan Straits)
Fifth Row - Vietnam Service Medal (6) - Sea Service Deployment Ribbon - Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross Unit Citation
Sixth Row - United Nations Service Medal - Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal - Republic of Korea War Service Medal (retroactive)

Bolster Class Rescue and Salvage Ship:

Laid down, 10 August 1944, at Basalt Rock Co., Napa, CA.

Launched, 27 January 1945

Commissioned USS Conserver (ARS-39), 9 June 1945 at Vallejo, CA., LT. C. H. Rocklidge, USNR, in command

During the Korean War Conserver (ARS-39) participated in the following campaigns:

**Korean War Campaigns**
Campaigns and Dates	Campaigns and Dates
North Korean Aggression 18 to 29 July 1950 18 September to 2 November 1950	UN Summer-Fall Offensive 30 October to 12 November 1951
Communist China Aggression 3 to 13 November 1950 25 November 1950	Second Korean Winter 19 December 1951 to 6 January 1952 2 February to 2 March 1952 14 March 1952 18 March 1952 12 to 30 April 1952
Inchon Landing 15 to 17 September 1950	Third Korean Winter 8 to 30 April 1953
First UN Counter Offensive 25 to 28 January 1951	Korea, Summer-Fall 1953 1 to 2 May 1953 10 to 27 July 1953

During the Vietnam War Conserver (ARS-39) participated in the following campaigns:

**Vietnam War Campaigns**
Campaigns and Dates	Campaigns and Dates
Vietnamese Counteroffensive - Phase II 23 November to 16 December 1966 25 to 31 January 1967	Vietnamese Counteroffensive - Phase V 1 to 11 July 1969
Tet Counteroffensive 27 March to 1 April 1968	Vietnam Summer-Fall 1969 3 to 14 August 1969 20 August to 10 October 1969
Vietnamese Counteroffensive - Phase IV 2 to 15 April 1968 14 May to 7 June 1968 10 to 30 June 1968	Vietnamese Counteroffensive - Phase VII 23 August to 8 September 1970 16 September to 13 October 1970 26 October to 9 November 1970 18 to 24 November 1970

Decommissioned and Struck from the Naval Register, 1 April 1994

Laid up in the Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility, Pearl Harbor, HI.

Final Disposition, sunk as a SINKEX target on or about 13 November, 2004 in the Hawaii area

Conserver received eight battle stars for Korean War service and six campaign stars for Vietnam War Service

Specifications:
Displacement 1,497t(lt) 2,048 t.(fl)
Length 213' 6"
Beam 39'
Draft 14' 8"
Speed 15 kts.
Complement 120
Armament two 40mm guns
Propulsion diesel-electric, twin screws, 2,780hp

Size	Image Description	Source
89k	Conserver (ARS-39) in port, probably Long Beach, CA., date unknown	John W. Park USN
95k	Conserver (ARS-39) alongside Card (CVE-11), exchanging movies, 27 August 1945 US National Archives photo # 80-G-366398, a US Navy photo now in the US National Archives collections	US Naval Historical Center
114k	Conserver (ARS-39) towing decommissioned battleship New York (BB-34) out to sea to be used as a target, Pearl Harbor, HI., July 1948 US National Archives photo # 80-G-498120, a US Navy photo now in the US National Archives collections	US Naval Historical Center
88k	Conserver (ARS-39) at Pearl Harbor, HI., October 1956 US National Archives photo # 80-G-1001125, a US Navy photo now in the US National Archives collections	US Naval Historical Center
94k	Conserver (ARS-39) rides at anchor in Kodiak Harbor, Alaska, date unknown. US Navy photo from "All Hands" magazine, April 1959	Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
91k	Conserver (ARS-39) at Pearl Harbor, HI., 21 August 1958 US Navy photo # NH 96914 from the US Naval Historical Center collections	US Naval Historical Center
75k	Conserver (ARS-39) at Pearl Harbor, HI., 21 August 1958 US Navy photo # NH 96915 from the US Naval Historical Center collections	US Naval Historical Center
99k	Conserver (ARS-39) off Oahu, HI., 26 April 1967. Photo by PH3 D. R. Hyde US Navy photo NH 96918 from the US Naval Historical Center collections	US Naval Historical Center
115k	Conserver (ARS-39) off Oahu, HI., 26 April 1967. Photo by PH3 D. R. Hyder US Navy photo # NH 96916 from the US Naval Historical Center collections	US Naval Historical Center
86k	Conserver (ARS-39) off Kawaii, HI., October 1971, returning from Barking Sands Underwater Range after serving as a support platform for the recovery and replacement of a defective hydrophone. Photo by PH1 Kendal Thornsley US Navy photo # NH 96917, from the US Naval Historical Center collections.	US Naval Historical Center
55k	Conserver (ARS-39) underway, date and location unknown. US Navy photo	Courtesy Elsilrac Enterprises via NAFTS National Association of Fleet Tug Sailors
317k	Conserver (ARS-39) stands off nearby as crewmen and representatives from Eastport International prepare to deploy the unmanned submersible Deep Drone, 17 September 1983, from Narragansett (T-AF-167) during the salvage operations for the downed Korean Air Lines Flight 007 (KAL-007). The commercial jet was shot down by Soviet aircraft over Sakhalin Island on August 30, 1983 in the Sea of Japan. All 269 passengers and crewmen were killed. DVIC photo # DN-ST-89-02927 by PH1 Barbante, USN, a US Navy photo now in the collections of the Defense Visual Information Center.	Bill Gonyo
65k	Conserver (ARS-39) underway off Hawaii in 1984 US Navy photo	Courtesy Bud Andreasen via NAFTS National Association of Fleet Tug Sailors
88k	Conserver (ARS-39) underway in June 1985 as she clears the Pearl Harbor channel enroute to the Western Pacific. US Navy photo	Courtesy John Ackerman via NAFTS National Association of Fleet Tug Sailors
62k	Conserver (ARS-39) moored pierside, date and location unknown. US Navy photo	Tom Langford