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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive


Contributed by Mike Smolinski

Contributed by Al Grazevich

USS Conserver (ARS-39)


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 (3) - 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. Chester H. Rocklidge, USNR, in command
  • USS Conserver was assigned to Occupation and China service in the Far East for the following periods:

    Navy Occupation Service Medal

    China Service Medal (extended)
    12 September 1945 to 21 February 19462 to 5 April 1956

  • USS Conserver (ARS-39) was assigned to Joint Task Force 1, Task Unit 1.2.7 Target Vessel Group - Salvage Units for Operation Crossroads the atomic bomb tests at Bikini Atoll in July 1946
  • 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 30 September 1986
  • Recommissioned, 25 September 1987
  • Decommissioned and Struck from the Naval Register, 1 April 1994
  • USS Conserver earned eight battle stars for Korean War service and six campaign stars for Vietnam War Service
  • 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
    Specifications:
    Displacement 1,497 t.(lt) 2,048 t.(fl)
    Length 213' 6"
    Beam 43'
    Draft 13' 9"
    Speed 16 kts.
    Complement
    Officers 7
    Enlisted 113
    Largest Boom Capacity10 t.
    Armament
    one single 3"/50 cal dual purpose gun mount
    two twin 40mm AA gun mounts
    four .50 cal machine guns
    Fuel Capacities
    Diesel 2,150 Bbls
    Gasoline 2,500 Gals
    Propulsion
    four Cooper-Bessemer Diesel-electric, GSB-8 engines
    double Fairbanks-Morse Main Reduction Gears Ship's Service Generators
    two Diesel-drive 200Kw 120V D.C.
    one Diesel-drive 60Kw 120V D.C.
    twin propellers, 3,000shp

    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image
    Size Image Description Source
    Conserver 89k USS Conserver (ARS-39) in port, probably Long Beach, CA., date unknown John W. Park USN
    Conserver 95k USS Conserver (ARS-39) alongside USS 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 History and Heritage Command
    Conserver 45k USS Conserver (ARS-39) underway off the coast of Oahu near Honolulu, April 1947.
    Naval Photographic Center photo # K-37482
    Tommy Trampp
    Conserver 114k USS Conserver (ARS-39) towing decommissioned battleship USS 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 History and Heritage Command
    Conserver 88k USS 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 History and Heritage Command
    Conserver 94k USS 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.
    Conserver 91k USS Conserver (ARS-39) at Pearl Harbor, HI., 21 August 1958
    US Navy photo # NH 96914 from the US Naval History and Heritage Command collections
    US Naval History and Heritage Command
    Conserver 75k USS Conserver (ARS-39) at Pearl Harbor, HI., 21 August 1958
    US Navy photo # NH 96915 from the US Naval History and Heritage Command collections
    US Naval History and Heritage Command
    Conserver 152k USS Conserver (ARS-39) underway off Oahu, Hawaii, 26 May 1964. Her two 40mm gun mounts and their tubs have been replaced by a single 40mm gun on the center line on the signal bridge.
    US Navy photo # KN-9503, courtesy Shipscribe.com
    Mike Green
    Knox 119k Rescue and Salvage ships USS Conserver (ARS-39), USS Grapple (ARS-7), the Submarine Rescue Ship USS Greenlet (ASR-10) and the Fleet Tugs USS Cocopa (ATF-101) and USS Sioux (ATF-75) attempting to pull the Destroyer USS Frank Knox (DD-742) off Pratas Reef in the South China Sea, some two hundred miles south east of Hong Kong. Frank Knox ran aground 18 July 1965 and was finally refloated, 24 August 1965. This view was probably taken at about the time she was finally refloated on 24 August 1965.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 74179.
    Tony Cowart
    Conserver 99k USS Conserver (ARS-39) off Oahu, HI., 26 April 1967. Photo by PH3 D. R. Hyde
    US Navy photo NH 96918 from the US Naval History and Heritage Command collections
    US Naval History and Heritage Command
    Conserver 115k USS Conserver (ARS-39) off Oahu, HI., 26 April 1967. Photo by PH3 D. R. Hyder
    US Navy photo # NH 96916 from the US Naval History and Heritage Command collections
    US Naval History and Heritage Command
    Conserver 92k USS 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, courtesy Shipscribe.com.
    Robert Hurst
    Conserver 55k USS Conserver (ARS-39) underway, date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo
    Courtesy Elsilrac Enterprises via NAFTS
    National Association of Fleet Tug Sailors
    Narragansett 317k USS 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 USNS 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
    Conserver 65k USS Conserver (ARS-39) underway off Hawaii in 1984
    US Navy photo
    Courtesy Bud Andreasen via NAFTS
    National Association of Fleet Tug Sailors
    Conserver 88k USS 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
    Conserver 62k USS Conserver (ARS-39) moored pierside, date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo
    Tom Langford
    Conserver 129k USS Conserver (ARS-39) under way, date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo
    Richard Miller BMCS USNR Ret.
    Conserver 174k USS Conserver (ARS-39) moored pierside, date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo
    Richard Miller BMCS USNR Ret.

    USS Conserver Additional Ships Patches
    Conserver
    Contributed by Mike Smolinski
    Conserver
    Contributed by Mike Smolinski

    USS Conserver (ARS039)
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships

    Commanding Officers
    01LT. Rocklidge, Chester Howard9 June 1945 - 8 May 1948
    02LT. Scoville, Charles Arthur8 May 1948 - 26 May 1949
    03LT. Thompson, James Lydden, USN26 May 1949 - 12 March 1950
    04LT. McGee, William12 March 1950 - 15 March 1952
    05LT. Lewis, William Francis15 March 1952 - 2 June 1954
    06LT. Finley, William Thomas2 June 1954 - 22 September 1955
    07CDR. Homer, Vernon Lilburn 22 September 1955 - 9 April 1957
    08LCDR. Legg, John D.9 April 1957 - 25 April 1959
    09LCDR. Carson, James Dantzler25 April 1959 - 26 August 1960
    10LCDR. Callaway Jr., John Douglas, USN (USNA 1947)26 August 1960 - 4 May 1963
    11LCDR. Lamb, Derwin Taylor4 May 1963 - 20 August 1965
    12LCDR. Hilder, F. A.20 August 1965 - 21 july 1967
    13LCDR. Goodale, Charles Norman21 July 1967 - 22 August 1969
    14LCDR. Nelson, Jesse Robert 22 August 1969 - 20 November 1970
    15LCDR. Dalton, Gerard Holbrook20 November 1970 - 18 November 1971
    16LCDR. Cablk, Steven R.18 November 1971 - 5 November 1973
    17LCDR. Weegar, Carl Allen5 November 1973 - 28 May 1976
    18CDR. Gehman Jr., Harold Webster :ADM28 May 1976 - 15 June 1978
    19CDR. Heufelder, John R.15 June 1978 - 3 April 1980
    20CDR. Bruce, Robert G.3 April 1980 - 21 May 1982
    21LCDR. Ventgen, Robert J.21 May 1982 - 1 June 1984
    22LCDR. Ackerman, John William, USN1 June 1984 - 30 September 1986
     Decommissioned30 September 1986 - 25 September 1987
    23CDR. Keensee, Jerry W.25 September 1987 - 19 January 1990
    24CDR. Kasler, James Frederick19 January 1990 - August 1992
    25LCDR. Sensi Jr., Joseph, USN (USNA 1980)August 1992 - 1 April 1994
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves

    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation - Navy Log

    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    USS Conserver (ARS-39)
    National Association of Fleet Tug Sailors
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    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
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    Last Updated 24 June 2016