USS Curtiss (AV-4)

Please report any broken links or trouble you might come across to the Webmaster. Please take a moment to let us know so that we can correct any problems and make your visit as enjoyable and as informative as possible.

NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

Tab contributed by Al Grazevich

Views aboard USS Curtiss (AV-4) at the Espiritu Santo base by Life Magazine's Ralph Morse, between 3 and 15 October 1942.
Showing activity of VP-51 and ship's company personnel. Used for educational and non-commercial purpose.
Thanks to John Chiquoine

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) - China Service Medal (extended) - 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

During WWII USS Curtiss was assigned to Asiatic-Pacific Theater and participated in the following campaigns:

Campaign and Dates	Campaign and Dates
Asiatic-Pacific Campaigns
Pearl Harbor - Midway, 7 December 1941	Gilbert Islands operation, 13 November to 8 December 1943
Guadalcanal-Tulagi landings, 7 to 9 August 1942	Consolidation of Solomon Islands Consolidation of southern Solomon Islands, 8 February to 9 June 1943
Capture and defense of Guadalcanal, 10 August 1942 to 8 February 1943	Okinawa Gunto operation Assault and occupation of Okinawa Gunto, 22 May to 25 June 1945
Santa Cruz Islands, 26 October 1942

Following World War II USS Curtiss was assigned to Occupation and China service for the following periods:

Navy Occupation Service Medal	China Service Medal (extended)
29 December 1945 to 8 March 1947	29 December 1945 to 8 March 1947

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

USS Curtiss earned seven battle stars for World War II service

Final Disposition, sold for scrapping, 1 March 1972, to Union Minerals & Alloys, Kearny. N.J. (PD-X-926 of 1 October 1972) for $89,106.27

Withdrawn for the National Defense Reserve Fleet and delivered to Zidell Explorations Inc.1 April 1972

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 40mm 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

Click On Image For Full Size Image	Size	Image Description	Source
	25k	Launching of Curtiss (AV-4) at New York Shipbuilding Corp., Camden, N.J., 20 April 1940 AP Wirephoto	Ron Reeves
	96k	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
09410545	188k	Albemarle (AV-5) foreground, and Curtiss (AV-4), fitting out at Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, in late 1940. The destroyer *USS Trippe* (DD-403)** and a sistership are at right. The old armoured cruiser Olympia (IX-40) is visible in the reserve basin at top, along with an Eagle boat. Note the battleship New Jersey (BB-62) under construction in the slipway at far left; two motor torpedo boats are visible just to the left of *Albemarle's bow. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command. Photo # NH 96539*	Robert Hurst
	96k	*USS Curtiss* (AV-4)** underway soon after her completion, in 1940 US Navy photo # NH 55535 from the collections of the US Naval History and Heritage Command .	US Naval History and Heritage Command
	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.
	39k	View of the west side of Ford Island during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, 7 December 1941. Visible are (left to right): *USS Tangier* (AV-8), the capsized USS Utah (AG-16), USS Curtiss (AV-4) in the distance directly behind Utah, USS Medusa (AR-1), and the stern of USS Raleigh (CL-7)**, which is listing after a torpedo hit. USAAF photo. U.S. National Park Service Pearl Harbor gallery.	Robert Hurst
	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 History and Heritage Command
	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
09410469 80-G-24924	220k	*USS Curtiss* (AV-4)** loading US Army Air Corps gasoline tanker truck trailers, 23 April 1942, location unknown. US National Archives Photo #'s 80-G-24924 and 80-G-24926, US Navy photos now in the collections of the US National Archives.	Rick Davis
09410470 80-G-24926	282k		Rick Davis
09561407	345k	Views of *USS Curtiss* (AV-4) at the Espiritu Santo base includes USS McFarland (AVD-14) alongside USS Curtiss (AV-4) for a forward overhaul at Espiritu Santo, 3 to 15 Oct 1942. Photos by Ralph Morse, Life Magazine, who was covering activity of PB4Y squadron VP-51**. Used for non-commercial and educational purpose.	John Chiquoine
09410436	233k
09410437	233k
09410438	239k
	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)** underway, date and location unknown.	Hazegray and Underway web site.
	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
	217k	Illustration of *USS Curtiss* (AV-4)** tending PBYs in an anchorage in the Pacific during World War II, by artist and correspondent for YANK magazine, Jack Coogan.	Jim Kurrasch Battleship Iowa Pacific Battleship Center
	276k	Artist version of *USS Curtiss* (AV-4)** with her seaplanes in an anchorage in the Pacific, date and location unknown.	Ron Reeves
	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 History and Heritage Command	US Naval History and Heritage Command
	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.
	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 Curtis s.	US Naval History and Heritage Command
09410439	218k	*USS Curtiss* (AV-4)** returns home from a deployment between March 1955 and Sept 1957. Photos by Life Magazine photo journalist Ralph Crane. Used for educational and non-commercial purpose.>	John Chiquoine
09410440	250k
09410441	213k
09410442	247k
09410443	243k
	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
	29k	*USS Curtiss* (AV-4)** moored near McMurdo Station, Antarctica, circa January/February 1957.	Bruce DeWald
	35k	*USS Curtiss* (AV-4)** moored, pierside, date and location unknown.	Richard Miller BMCS USNR Ret.
	236k	Ex-*USS Curtiss* (AV-4)** being prepared for scrapping, at Tacoma, Washington in April 1972. US Naval History and Heritage Command, Photo No. NH 89316	Mike Green

For more photos and information about USS Curtiss, see;
MARAD Vessel History Database
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
Pearl Harbor Action Report

US Navy Patrol Squadrons - USS Curtiss (AV-4)
Postal Covers related to the ship

Commanding Officers
01	CDR. Ginder Sr., Samuel Paul, USN (USNA 1916) :RADM	15 November 1940 - 22 November 1941
02	CDR. Kendall, Henry Samuel :RADM	22 November 1941 - 26 April 1942
02a	CAPT. Owen, George Thomas (acting) :RADM	7 April 1942 - 26 April 1942
03	CAPT. Browder, Maurice Eugene, USN (USNA 1920)	26 April 1942 - 3 December 1942
04	CAPT. Cogswell, Wilson Patterson, USN (USNA 1922)	3 December 1942 - 15 October 1943
05	CAPT. Peck, Scott Ernest	15 August 1943 - 21 June 1945
06	CAPT. Doan, Henry Carpenter	21 June 1945 - 12 June 1946.06.1946
07	CDR. Cunningham, Winfield Scott	12 June 1946 - 23 June 1947
08	CAPT. Wilkinson, Clarence Kenneth	23 June 1947 - October 1947
09	CAPT. Nieman Jr., Hugh Robert :RADM	October 1947 - July 1948
10	CAPT. Drew, Edward John	July 1948 - June 1950
11	CAPT. Perkins, Anson Calvin	June 1950 - 13 July 1951
12	CAPT. Welsh, David James, USN (USNA 1929) :RADM	13 July 1951 - 12 July 1952
13	CAPT. Hulme, John :RADM	12 July 1952 - 23 July 1953
14	CAPT. Jones, Elmer Crowell, USN (USNA 1923)	23 July 1953 - 14 July 1954
15	CAPT. Kuhl, Joseph Howard, USN (USNA 1932)	14 July 1954 - 15 June 1955
16	CDR. Lawrence, John Craig, USN (USNA 1939) (photo as CAPT.)	15 June 1955 - 15 July 1955
17	CAPT. Bailey, Burl Leonidas, USN (USNA 1932)	15 July 1955 - 27 December 1956
18	CAPT. Fritter, Charles Taylor, USN (USNA 1933)	27 December 1956 - 17 May 1957
19	CDR. George, Paul John	17 May 1957 - 24 September 1957


Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves

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

Back To The Navsource Photo Archives Main Page

Back To The Service Ship Type Index

Back To The Seaplane Tender (AV)Photo Index

Comments, Suggestions, E-mail Webmaster.

This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo

Last Updated 2 February 2024