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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive
Contributed by Mike Smolinski

E-AG-153 Compass Island

Flag Hoist/International Radio Call Sign:
November - Papa - Whiskey - Golf
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Navy Expeditionary Medal (5-Cuba) - National Defense Service Medal - Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (Cuba)
Compass Island Class Miscellaneous Auxiliary (Navigational Research) Ship:
  • Laid down as a Maritime Administration type (C4-S-1a) hull under Maritime Commission contract, (MA 26) as SS Garden State Mariner at New York Shipbuilding Corp, Camden, N.J.
  • Launched, 24 October 1953
  • Acquired by the Navy 29 March 1956
  • Commissioned USS Compass Island (E-AG-153), 3 December 1956, CDR. J. A. Dare in command
  • Decommissioned, 1 May 1980
  • Transferred to MARAD for lay up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, James River, Fort Eustis, VA.
  • Struck from the Naval Register, 1 October 1981
  • Permanent title transfer to MARAD, 9 April 1993
  • Final Disposition, sold for scrapping to Able UK, Hartlepool, Teeside, England, and removed from the Reserve Fleet, 16 October 2003 under tow to the United Kingdom
    Specifications:
    Displacement 18,000 t.(fl)
    Length 563'
    Beam 76'
    Draft 28'
    Speed 20 kts.
    Propulsion steam turbine, two boilers, single shaft
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		Size Image Description Source
    Compass Island 86k Compass Island (E-AG-153) underway during sea trials in 1956, place unknown.
    US Navy photo from "All Hands" magazine, February 1957.    		 Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
    Compass Island 95k Compass Island (E-AG-153) underway, date and place unknown.
    US Navy photo from "All Hands" magazine, July 1959.    		 Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
    Compass Island 100k Compass Island (E-AG-153) underway, date and place unknown.
    US Navy photo from "All Hands" magazine, January 1960.    		 Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
    Compass Island 121k Compass Island (E-AG-153) mooring with the assistance of a tug, , date and place unknown.
    US Navy photo from "All Hands" magazine, September 1975.    		 Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
    Compass Island 42k Compass Island (E-AG-153) underway, date and location unknown. Stan Gaines BMC USN Ret
    Caloosahatchee 45k "The Hartlepool Four" left to right;
    ex-Caloosahatchee (AO-98)
    ex-Canisteo (AO-99),
    ex-Canopus (AS-34), and
    ex-Compass Island (E-AG-153) awaiting the beginning of the end at Able UK, Hartlepool, Teeside, England, 4 March 2006. Scrapping is on hold due to environmental concerns.    		 Photo by David Nixon
    View the Compass Island (E-AG-153)
    DANFS history entry located at the US Naval Historical Center
    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    U.S.Navy Memorial Foundation
    Fleet Reserve Association
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    No Information Available
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    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
    © 2005 Gary P. Priolo © 1996 - 2008 NavSource Naval History. All Rights Reserved.
    Last Updated 19 October 2007