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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

USS Curtiss (AV-4)

International Radio Call Sign:
November - Echo - Foxtrot - Zulu NEFZ

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - Combat Action Ribbon (retroactive - Pearl Harbor) - American Defense Service Medal (with Fleet clasp)
Second Row - American Campaign Medal - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (7) - World War II Victory Medal
Third Row - Navy Occupation Service Medal (with Asia clasp) - National Defense Service Medal - Korean Service Medal
Fourth Row - Antarctic Service Medal - United Nations Service Medal - Republic of Korea War Service Medal (retroactive)

Curtiss Class Seaplane Tender:

Laid down, 25 March 1938, at New York Shipbuilding Corp., Camden, N.J.

Launched, 20 April 1940

Commissioned USS Curtiss (AV-4), 15 November 1940, CDR. S. P. Ginder in command

Decommissioned, 24 September 1957

Laid up in the Pacific Reserve Fleet, Suisun Bay Group

Custody transferred to the Maritime Commission, 31 October 1962

Struck from the Naval Register, 1 July 1963

Final Disposition, sold for scrapping, 1 March 1972, to Union Minerals & Alloys, Kearny. N.J.

Physically delivered to Zidell Explorations Inc.1 April 1972

USS Curtiss earned seven battle stars for World War II service

Specifications:
Displacement 8,671 t(lt) 13,475 t.(lim)
Length 527' 4"
Beam 69' 3"
Draft 21' 11"
Speed 19.7 kts. (trial speed)
Complement

officers 100

enlisted 1,035
Armament

as built

four single 5"/38 dual purpose gun mounts

three quad 40mm AA gun mounts

two twin 49mm AA gun mounts

added during WWII

two twin 40mm AA gun mounts

twelve single 20mm AA gun mounts
Ship's service generators 4 500Kw 450V A.C.
Fuel capacities

NSFO 9,670 Bbls

Diesel 286 Bbls

Gasoline 267,030 Gals
Propulsion

two New York Ship Building Corp. paired geared turbines

four Babcock & Wilcox Express boilers 400psi 690°

double De Laval Main reduction gear

twin shafts, 12,000shp

Size	Image Description	Source
96k	*USS Curtiss* (AV-4)** soon after her launching on 20 April 1940 at New York Shipbuilding Corp., Camden, N.J. New York Shipbuilding Corp. photo	David Buell
96k	*USS Curtiss* (AV-4)** underway soon after her completion, in 1940 US Navy photo # NH 55535 from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center.	US Naval Historical Center
78k	*USS Curtiss* (AV-4)** on her trials off Rockland, Maine, 8 October 1940. Of her four 5"/38 guns, only the forward one was in an enclosed mount. US National Archives photo # 19-N-22647, RG-19-LCM a US Navy Bureau of Ships photo now in the collections of the US National Archives.	Robert Hurst
121k	*USS Curtiss* (AV-4) afire after she was hit by a crashing Japanese dive bomber. Photographed from USS Tangier (AV-8). USS Medusa (AR-1) is at right. Timbers floating in the water (foreground) may be from USS Utah (AG-16), which had been sunk at her berth, astern of Tangier. Note weathered paintwork on Curtiss and Medusa*. The original photograph was in the CinCPac report of the Pearl harbor Attack, 15 February 1942, Volume 3, in 1990. US Naval History and Heritage Command photo #: NH 96660*	Robert Hurst
15k	*USS Curtiss* (AV-4)** at Pearl Harbor, 7 December 1941 on fire after being hit by a crashing Japanese dive bomber.
87k	The damaged *USS Curtiss* (AV-4), at left, and USS Medusa (AR-1), at right, at their moorings soon after the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor, 7 December 1941. Note that USS Curtiss (AV-4)** has been fitted with an air search radar. US National Archives photo # 80-G-32733, a US Navy photo now in the collections of the National Archives	US Naval Historical Center
133k	Wreckage of a burned-out OS2U-2 floatplane on the after deck of *USS Curtiss* (AV-4), photographed soon after the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor, 7 December 1941. Curtiss** had been hit in the hangar area by a Japanese plane and by a bomb during the Japanese raid, and near-missed off the stern by another bomb. US National Archives photo # 80-G-19932, a US Navy photo now in the collections of the National Archives	Robert Hurst
54k	*USS Curtiss* (AV-4)** underway, 1942, location unknown. US Navy photo	Hazegray and Underway web site
153k	Aft plan view of *USS Curtiss* (AV-4)** at Moore Drydock Co., Oakland, 9 October 1943. Navy Yard Mare Island photo # 7022-43.	Darryl Baker
76k	Broadside view of *USS Curtiss* (AV-4)** off San Francisco, 11 October 1943. Navy Yard Mare Island photo # 7031-43.	Darryl Baker
55k	Bows on view of *USS Curtiss* (AV-4)** off San Francisco, 11 October 1943. Navy Yard Mare Island photo # 7033-43. The tug alongside *Curtiss* is unidentified.	Darryl Baker
121k	*USS Curtiss* (AV-4) afire after she was hit by a crashing Japanese dive bomber. Photographed from USS Tangier (AV-8). USS Medusa (AR-1) is at right. Timbers floating in the water (foreground) may be from USS Utah (AG-16), which had been sunk at her berth, astern of Tangier. Note weathered paintwork on Curtiss and Medusa*. The original photograph was in the CinCPac report of the Pearl harbor Attack, 15 February 1942, Volume 3, in 1990. US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 96660*.	Robert Hurst
35k	*USS Curtiss* (AV-4)** underway, date and location unknown. US Navy photo	Hyperwar US Navy in WWII
49k	*USS Curtiss* (AV-4)** underway, date and location unknown. US Navy photo	Robert Hurst
80k	*USS Curtiss* (AV-4)** at anchor off Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, CA., 31 October 1945. US National Archives photo # 19-N-91663, RG-19-LCM a US Navy Bureau of Ships photo now in the collections of the US National Archives.	Robert Hurst
147k	Stern view of *USS Curtiss* (AV-4)** off Mare Island Navy Yard, 31 October 1945. File name: AV 4 6883-45, Navy Photo, 10/31/45	Darryl Baker
238k	Broadside view of *USS Curtiss* (AV-4)** off Mare Island Navy Yard, 31 October 1945. File name: AV 4 6885-45, Navy Photo, 10/31/45	Darryl Baker
131k	Bow on view of *USS Curtiss* (AV-4)** off Mare Island Navy Yard, 31 October 1945. File name: AV 4 6887-45, Navy Photo, 10/31/45	Darryl Baker
358k	Stern plan view of *USS Curtiss* (AV-4)** at Mare Island Navy Yard, 11 November 1945. File name: AV 4 7035-45, Navy Photo, 11/6/45	Darryl Baker
224k	Bow plan view of *USS Curtiss* (AV-4)** at Mare Island Navy Yard, 11 November 1945. File name: AV 4 7038-45, Navy Photo, 11/6/45	Darryl Baker
109k	*USS Curtiss* (AV-4)** In San Diego Bay during the later 1940s or early 1950s. She is flying a Vice Admiral's flag from her mainmast. A pilot boat is at right, and USS LSM-462 is in the left distance. US Navy photo # NH 97415 from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center	US Naval Historical Center
54k	*USS Curtiss* (AV-4)** plays 'mother hen' to seaplanes flying patrol missions in the Korean theater. US Navy photo from "All Hands" magazine, March 1953	Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
321k	A Martin PBM-5 "Mariner" Patrol Bomber (with the nickname "HOTOGO" painted on its bow), Is hoisted on board *USS Curtiss* (AV-4) in the Korean War zone, 8 November 1950. At that time this plane, and others from Fleet Air Wing 6*, were engaged in anti-mine patrols off the Korean coast. Note twin .50 caliber machine gun turret fully trained to starboard, with guns depressed. US Navy History and Heritage Command photo # NH 94616* from the collections of the Aviation History Branch.	Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
40k	*USS Curtiss* (AV-4)** date and location unknown US Navy photo from "Jane's Fighting Ships 1954-55".	Robert Hurst
128k	*USS Curtiss* (AV-4)** underway in 1954. Note large number of boats stowed on board US Navy photo # NH 97416 from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center. Note - The caption as provided by the Navy for this photo may be in error as a helo deck was installed in the Fall of 1953 according to Walter J. Handelman who served as Deck Officer from 1953 to 1955 aboard USS Curtiss.	US Naval Historical Center
87k	*USS Curtiss* (AV-4)** underway at San Diego enroute to sea, circa 1956. US Navy photo	David Buell for his father Benton E. Buell, ENC, USN (later CWO4) USS Curtiss
409k	*USS Curtiss* (AV-4)** underway, date and location unknown. A Ted Stone photo from the "Jane's Fighting Ships" - 1964 -1965 edition.	Robert Hurst

For more photos and information about USS Curtiss, see;
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships
USS Curtiss (AV-4) Association

Pearl Harbor Action Report

Commanding Officers

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

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This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo

Last Updated 18 March 2011