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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive


Tab contributed by Al Grazevich

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) - 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:

    Asiatic-Pacific Campaigns
    Campaign and Dates Campaign and Dates
    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 194729 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  • Withdrawn for the National Defense Reserve Fleet and delivered to Zidell Explorations Inc.1 April 1972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
    Curtiss 25k Launching of Curtiss (AV-4) at New York Shipbuilding Corp., Camden, N.J., 20 April 1940
    AP Wirephoto
    Ron Reeves
    Curtiss 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
    Albermarle
    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
    Curtiss 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
    Curtiss 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
    Curtiss 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
    Curtiss 15k USS Curtiss (AV-4) at Pearl Harbor, 7 December 1941 on fire after being hit by a crashing Japanese dive bomber.  
    Tangier 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
    Curtiss 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
    Curtiss 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
    Curtiss 54k USS Curtiss (AV-4) underway, 1942, location unknown.
    US Navy photo
    Hazegray and Underway web site
    Curtiss
    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
    Curtiss
    09410470
    80-G-24926
    282k
    McFarland
    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
    Curtiss
    09410436
    233k
    Curtiss
    09410437
    233k
    Curtiss
    09410438
    239k
    Curtiss 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
    Curtiss 76k Broadside view of USS Curtiss (AV-4) off San Francisco, 11 October 1943.
    Navy Yard Mare Island photo # 7031-43.
    Darryl Baker
    Curtiss 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
    Curtiss 121k USS Curtiss (AV-4) underway, date and location unknown. Hazegray and Underway web site.
    Curtiss 35k USS Curtiss (AV-4) underway, date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo
    Hyperwar US Navy in WWII
    Curtiss 49k USS Curtiss (AV-4) underway, date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo
    Robert Hurst
    Curtiss 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
    Curtiss 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
    Curtiss 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
    Curtiss 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
    Curtiss 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
    Curtiss 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
    Curtiss 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
    Curtiss 276k Artist version of USS Curtiss (AV-4) with her seaplanes in an anchorage in the Pacific, date and location unknown. Ron Reeves
    Curtiss 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
    Curtiss 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.
    Curtiss 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.
    Curtiss
    09410471
    100k Stern view of USS Cutiss (AV-41) in San Francisco Bay off Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, 2 January 1952, after a routine overhaul.
    San Francisco Naval Shipyard photo # NTI-290(C S)-1-2-52
    John Spivey
    Curtiss 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
    Curtiss
    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
    Curtiss
    09410440
    250k
    Curtiss
    09410441
    213k
    Curtiss
    09410442
    247k
    Curtiss
    09410443
    243k
    Curtiss 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
    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
    Curtiss 29k USS Curtiss (AV-4) moored near McMurdo Station, Antarctica, circa January/February 1957. Bruce DeWald
    Curtiss 35k USS Curtiss (AV-4) moored, pierside, date and location unknown. Richard Miller BMCS USNR Ret.
    Curtiss 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

    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
    Curtis Curtis Curtis Curtis Curtis Curtis
    Curtis Curtis Curtis Curtis Curtis Curtis
    Curtis Curtis Curtis Curtis Curtis Curtis
    Curtis Curtis Curtis Curtis Curtis Curtis Curtis


    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
    01CDR. Ginder Sr., Samuel Paul, USN (USNA 1916) :RADM15 November 1940 - 22 November 1941
    02CDR. Kendall, Henry Samuel :RADM22 November 1941 - 26 April 1942
    02aCAPT. Owen, George Thomas (acting) :RADM7 April 1942 - 26 April 1942
    03CAPT. Browder, Maurice Eugene, USN (USNA 1920)26 April 1942 - 3 December 1942
    04CAPT. Cogswell, Wilson Patterson, USN (USNA 1922)3 December 1942 - 15 October 1943
    05CAPT. Peck, Scott Ernest15 August 1943 - 21 June 1945
    06CAPT. Doan, Henry Carpenter21 June 1945 - 12 June 1946.06.1946
    07CDR. Cunningham, Winfield Scott12 June 1946 - 23 June 1947
    08CAPT. Wilkinson, Clarence Kenneth23 June 1947 - October 1947
    09CAPT. Nieman Jr., Hugh Robert :RADMOctober 1947 - July 1948
    10CAPT. Drew, Edward JohnJuly 1948 - June 1950
    11CAPT. Perkins, Anson CalvinJune 1950 - 13 July 1951
    12CAPT. Welsh, David James, USN (USNA 1929) :RADM13 July 1951 - 12 July 1952
    13CAPT. Hulme, John :RADM12 July 1952 - 23 July 1953
    14CAPT. Jones, Elmer Crowell, USN (USNA 1923)23 July 1953 - 14 July 1954
    15CAPT. Kuhl, Joseph Howard, USN (USNA 1932)14 July 1954 - 15 June 1955
    16CDR. Lawrence, John Craig, USN (USNA 1939) (photo as CAPT.)15 June 1955 - 15 July 1955
    17CAPT. Bailey, Burl Leonidas, USN (USNA 1932)15 July 1955 - 27 December 1956
    18CAPT. Fritter, Charles Taylor, USN (USNA 1933)27 December 1956 - 17 May 1957
    19CDR. George, Paul John17 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

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    Last Updated 5 July 2024