Naval History Homepage and Site Search
With thanks to Old Weather, a Project
Log Books of the U.S. Coast & Geodetic Survey, 19th and 20th Centuries USC&GSS Guide General description, specifications and time line |
USC&GSS Guide (NOAA Photo, click images to enlarge) |
Back to US Log Book Homepage |
(Commemorated by Guide Seamount on California coast)
Characteristics: Steamer, built by New Jersey Drydock & Transportation Company, Elizabethport, New Jersey in 1918 as Bird-class minesweeper USS Flamingo, cost $500,000, 187ft long x 35ft beam x12ft draft. Along with Discoverer 1 and Pioneer 1, known as "Bird-boats" in C&GS service.
Log Period and Areas of Service: 1923-1941, Pacific coast.
Summary of Service
1923 - Transferred to C&GS.
to 1941 - Carried out many early bathymetric surveys off West Coast in company with USC&GSS Pioneer. Radio acoustic ranging navigation developed onboard.
1924 - Sound signal observed over 200 miles off Oregon coast, identifying the SOFAR (Sound Fixing and Ranging) sound layer.
Fate: 1941 - Returned to Navy, converted to rescue and salvage ship, ARS-1, renamed USS Viking.
Links: DANFS, NOAA History site, Wikipedia
A general note on the sources.