USS Hydrographer (AGS-2)

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USS Hydrographer (AGS-2) at Kodiak, Alaska, on 8 March 1943
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Class:        HYDROGRAPHER (AGS-2)
Design:        USC&GS AGS
Displacement (tons):        907 light, 1,135 lim.
Dimensions (feet):        164.9' oa, 143.0' wl x 31.5' e x 13.8' lim.
Original Armament:        1-3"/50 3-20mm
Later armaments:        1-3"/50 2-20mmT (1945)
Complement:        137 (1944)
Speed (kts.):        10
Propulsion (HP):        650
Machinery:        Winton diesel electric, 1 screw

Construction:

AGS	Name	Acq.	Builder	Keel	Launch	Commiss.
2	HYDROGRAPHER	8 Apr 42	Spear Engineers	1928	1928	20 May 42

Disposition:

AGS	Name	Decomm.	Strike	Disposal	Fate	MA Sale
2	HYDROGRAPHER	1 Jul 46	19 Jul 46	1 Jul 46	C&GS	--

Class Notes:
No FY (transferred). In July 1928 the single-screw steel diesel-electric surveying ship HYDROGRAPHER was ordered from Spear Engineers, Inc., Norfolk, Va., for use by the California Division of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. This yard closed in September 1929 and the ship was at the yard of the Hampton Roads Shipbuilding Corp., Norfolk, Va., on 3 Feb 30 when the Coast and Geodetic Survey received tenders for a contract to complete the vessel. The Norfolk Navy Yard won the contract and delivered the ship in 1931.

On 21 Feb 42 the Commerce Department agreed to transfer two Coast and Geodetic Survey ships, HYDROGRAPHER and OCEANOGRAPHER, to the Navy, and on 28 Mar 42 Executive Order No. 9113 directed the transfer. In giving his instructions to the Bureau of Ships to accept the ships, VCNO stated that upon acquisition these vessels would be classed as Patrol Gunboats (PG). Instead HYDROGRAPHER was briefly designated a yacht, PY-30, before being reclassified as a surveying ship on 4 Apr 42. (The hull number PY-30 is officially listed as "not used.") The ship was acquired on 8 Apr 42 and delivered to the Navy at Pensacola, Fla., on 15 Apr 42. After completing conversion on 25 May 42 she operated in special service under OpNav until reporting to CominCh and CinCLant on 17 Dec 42 and to CinCPac on 15 Jan 43.

HYDROGRAPHER was brought back to the east coast in early 1946 to be decommissioned and returned to the Coast and Geodetic Survey. She spent most of her subsequent career, which lasted until 1967, on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts.

Ship Notes:

AGS	Name	Notes
2	HYDROGRAPHER	Ex PY-30 4 Apr 42. Converted by the Choctaw Boat Works, Mobile, Ala. Returned to C&GS 1 Jul 46, HYDROGRAPHER. Out of service 1967.