USS ''Snatch'' (ARS-27), well known as Scripps RV ''Argo'' after conversion to scientific research, was a commissioned by the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and in service from 11 December 1944 through 23 December 1946. Her task was to come to the aid of stricken vessels. The ship is better known from her scientific research role as the

Scripps Institution of Oceanography Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) is the center for oceanography and Earth science at the University of California, San Diego. Its main campus is located in La Jolla, with additional facilities in Point Loma. Founded in 1903 and incorpo ...

(SIO) research vessel RV ''Argo''. It is that name, apparently not formally recognized by Navy that maintained title to the vessel, found in the scientific literature and public releases about her wide ranging research voyages.

U.S. Naval service

''Snatch'' was laid down on 28 September 1943 by the

Basalt Rock Company Basalt Rock Company was a multifaceted industrial operation that was founded in 1920. The company started as a rock quarrying operation located a few miles south of Napa, California near Rocktram adjacent to the Napa River. It later branched ou ...

Napa, California Napa is the largest city and county seat of Napa County, California, Napa County and a principal city of Wine Country in Northern California, United States. Located in the North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), North Bay region of the Bay Area, th ...

; launched on 8 April 1944; sponsored by Mrs. S. B. Johnson; and commissioned on 11 December 1944.

World War II service

''Snatch'' conducted her

shakedown cruise Shakedown cruise is a nautical term in which the performance of a ship is tested. Generally, shakedown cruises are performed before a ship enters service or after major changes such as a crew change, repair, refit or overhaul. The shakedown ...

off

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

, California, and returned to

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, California from where she steamed on 20 February 1945 for

Manus Manus may refer to: Relating to locations around New Guinea *Manus Island, a Papua New Guinean island in the Admiralty Archipelago ** Manus languages, languages spoken on Manus and islands close by ** Manus Regional Processing Centre, an offshore ...

Admiralty Islands The Admiralty Islands are an archipelago group of 40 islands in the Bismarck Archipelago, to the north of New Guinea in the South Pacific Ocean. These are also sometimes called the Manus Islands, after the largest island. These rainforest-cov ...

. Under tow were the vessels (Covered Lighter (Self-propelled)) ''YF-622'', ''YF-919'', and ''YF-926''. On 4 March, she ran into heavy seas which caused ''919'' and ''926'' to collide. ''YF-926'' was taking water and down by the bow. The seas were still rough three days later so the salvage ship changed course for Kealakekua Bay,

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

. ''YF-926'' sank on the 8th, the day before reaching port. Two days later, ''Snatch'' sailed to

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Reci ...

towing the remaining lighters. ''Snatch'' steamed to

Eniwetok Enewetak Atoll (; also spelled Eniwetok Atoll or sometimes Eniewetok; , , or , ; known to the Japanese as Brown Atoll or Brown Island; ) is a large coral atoll of 40 islands in the Pacific Ocean and with its 296 people (as of 2021) forms a legi ...

Marshall Islands The Marshall Islands, officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands, is an island country west of the International Date Line and north of the equator in the Micronesia region of the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. The territory consists of 29 c ...

, on 17 March. From 5 to 9 April, she participated in salvage operations of '' SS Esso Washington'' which was grounded near the entrance of

Passage. On the 14th, the ship steamed for

Guam Guam ( ; ) is an island that is an Territories of the United States, organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. Guam's capital is Hagåtña, Guam, Hagåtña, and the most ...

with a

dredge Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing ...

and two barges in tow. En route, the ship was diverted to

Tinian Tinian () is one of the three principal islands of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). Together with uninhabited neighboring Aguiguan, it forms Tinian Municipality, one of the four constituent municipalities of the Northern ...

Mariana Islands The Mariana Islands ( ; ), also simply the Marianas, are a crescent-shaped archipelago comprising the summits of fifteen longitudinally oriented, mostly dormant volcanic mountains in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, between the 12th and 21st pa ...

, arriving on 23 April. On 15 May, she sailed for

Leyte Gulf Leyte Gulf, also known simply as the Leyte, is a gulf in the Eastern Visayan region in the Philippines. The bay is part of the Philippine Sea of the Pacific Ocean, and is bounded by two islands; Samar in the north and Leyte in the west. On the ...

Philippine Islands The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

, calling at

Ulithi Ulithi (, , or ; pronounced roughly as YOU-li-thee) is an atoll in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, about east of Yap, within Yap State. Name The name of the island goes back to Chuukic languages, Proto-Chuukic ''*úlú-diw ...

to take ''YF-606'' and ''YF-1001'' in tow. ''Snatch'' operated in the

from 26 May to 30 December 1945 when she sailed for

, California. She operated from there until 23 December 1946 when she was placed in reserve, out of commission, and berthed there.

Military awards and honors

''Snatch's'' crew was eligible for the following medals: *

American Campaign Medal The American Campaign Medal was a military award of the United States Armed Forces which was first created on November 6, 1942, by issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The medal was intended to recognize those military members who had per ...

Asiatic–Pacific Campaign Medal The Asiatic–Pacific Campaign Medal was a United States military award of the Second World War, which was awarded to any member of the United States Armed Forces who served in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater from 1941 to 1945. The medal was create ...

World War II Victory Medal The World War II Victory Medal was a service medal of the United States military which was established by an Act of Congress on 6 July 1945 (Public Law 135, 79th Congress) and promulgated by Section V, War Department Bulletin 12, 1945. Histo ...

* Philippines Liberation Medal

Scientific career as RV ''Argo''

The U. S. Navy, largely through the

Office of Naval Research The Office of Naval Research (ONR) is an organization within the United States Department of the Navy responsible for the science and technology programs of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. Established by Congress in 1946, its mission is to plan ...

(ONR), was a major funding source throughout the early days of oceanography. Up to 90% of U.S. oceanographic research funding from 1946 through 1965 came from Navy with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography being one of the notable research facilities and recipients of that funding. Such funding provided for both the conversion of former naval vessels to research and for their operation.http://scilib.ucsd.edu/sio/hist/day_navy_support_for_oceanogr.pdf , SIO: Navy Support for Oceanography at SIO The USS ''Snatch'' (ARS-27) was one of two (the other being sister ship , later RV ''Chain'', operating from the

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI, acronym pronounced ) is a private, nonprofit research and higher education facility dedicated to the study of marine science and engineering. Established in 1930 in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, it i ...

) notable vessels undergoing such conversion. In 1960 the ''Snatch'' was converted into the vessel known in scientific literature and publicity relating to oceanography as the Scripps vessel RV ''Argo''. The ship operated as a Scripps research vessel from that conversion in 1960 until return to Navy custody for scrapping in 1970.

Research voyages

As RV ''Argo'' the ship conducted much significant research during what was termed the "Golden Age of Oceanography," by

Roger Revelle Roger Randall Dougan Revelle (March 7, 1909 – July 15, 1991) was a scientist and scholar who was instrumental in the formative years of the University of California, San Diego, and was among the early scientists to study anthropogenic global ...

. Among the notable expeditions was the series for the

International Indian Ocean Expedition The International Indian Ocean Expedition (IIOE) was a large-scale multinational hydrographic survey of the Indian Ocean which took place from September 1, 1959, to December 31, 1965, Jawaharlal Nehru then PM of India inaugurated International Indi ...

(IIOE) of 1960 through 1965 when ''Argo'' participated in the Monsoon Expedition of 1960–1961 and, with , participated the 1962 Lusiad Expedition. The ship's work added information of submarine topography (bathymetry) and geophysical properties in that relatively unexplored ocean that contributed to understanding the global ridge system and geology as well as collecting data in other disciplines. During 1966 the ship did winter work in the northwestern Pacific, Bering Sea, and the Okhotsk Sea. ''Argo'' paired again with RV ''Horizon'' for the 1967 Nova expedition conducted in the southwest Pacific. Significant information on the geological structures were reported and contributed to modern knowledge of global geology. During the Circe Expedition (1968–1969) concentrating on the geology and geophysics of the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic, ''Argo'' worked in the Southwest Indian Ridge and collected specimens of "lower crustal matic and

upper mantle The upper mantle of Earth is a very thick layer of rock inside the planet, which begins just beneath the crust (geology), crust (at about under the oceans and about under the continents) and ends at the top of the lower mantle (Earth), lower man ...

ultramatic rocks never before recovered in oceanic areas" while also field-testing a shipboard computer linked to a prototype satellite navigation system. The ship features in the experience of a number of the well known names in oceanography and has itself given its name to ocean features. The Argo

fracture zone A fracture zone is a linear feature on the ocean floor—often hundreds, even thousands of kilometers long—resulting from the action of offset mid-ocean ridge axis segments. They are a consequence of plate tectonics. Lithospheric plates on eit ...

(11°30' S 69°30' E – 16°00' S 63°00' E) is noted along with the

North Australian Basin The North Australian Basin (NAB; formerly Argo Abyssal Plain, or Argo Plain) is an oceanic basin in the easternmost corner of the Indian Ocean between northwest Australia and Indonesia. It was discovered by the U.S. research vessel "Argo" of the ...

(14°30' S 116°00' E) as among a number of the ship's discoveries. The note in the GEBCO Gazetteer for the fracture zone is:

Discoverer: R/V ''Argo'' 1960, 1968, 1960 Recognized on SIO's R/V ''Argo'', Lusiad Expedition, 1962–63. Mapped in 1968, Circe Expedition"

Reclassification to AGOR-18

After seven years of service under

funding and sponsorship at Scripps and the buildup of national oceanographic resources ship formally became part of the Navy's new Auxiliary General Oceanographic Research (AGOR)navy.mil
, U. S. Navy: Glossary fleet. The ship was changed for administrative purposes by Navy on 1 April 1967 to AGOR-18 classification and administrative ownership by the

Military Sea Transportation Service The Military Sealift Command (MSC) is an organization that controls the replenishment and military transport ships of the United States Navy. Military Sealift Command has the responsibility for providing sealift and ocean transportation for all U ...

(MSTS) while continuing operations as the Scripps vessel R/V ''Argo''.

Final decommissioning

The ship was returned to US Naval custody in March 1970 and struck from the

Naval Register A Navy Directory, Navy List or Naval Register is an official list of naval officers, their ranks and seniority, the ships which they command or to which they are appointed, etc., that is published by the government or naval authorities of a co ...

, 1 May 1970. Final disposition: sold for scrapping, 8 November 1971, to S.S. Zee,

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

References

External links

Navy Support for Oceanography at SIO

* ttp://ceo.ucsd.edu/expeditions/index.html Scripps Institution of Oceanography: Expeditions
SIO GEOLOGICAL COLLECTIONS LIST OF EXPEDITIONS

Guide to the S.I.O. Subject Files Records, 1890–1981
*

Basalt Rock Company Shipbuilding History {{DEFAULTSORT:Snatch (Ars-27) Research vessels of the United States Research vessels of the United States Navy Diver-class rescue and salvage ships Ships built in Napa, California World War II auxiliary ships of the United States 1944 ships