USC&GS Survey Ship DISCOVERER
The first Oceanographer was the fabled Morgan yacht, Corsair II, renamed for service with the Coast and Geodetic Survey. The present Oceanographer carries on a name associated with exotic ships. The DISCOVERER had a less exotic, but harder working, predecessor.
On September 1918, TODD Shipyard Corporation of New York launched a new ship which was commissioned January 31, 1919, the USS Auk (AM-38). From April to October, USS Auk served with Mine Division No. 3, clearing the North Sea mine barrage. That task accomplished, it returned to New York, and later in 1919, was placed on reserve at Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
USS Auk was transferred to the Coast and Geodetic Survey on April 7, 1922 and given a name which matched a new assignment: DISCOVERER. From 1922 to 1926, the DISCOVERER helped the Coast and Geodetic Survey carry out the hydrographic surveys which opened coastal shipping lanes along Alaska. Discoverer Island and Discoverer Bay, off the Alaska Peninsula were named for this hardworking ship. In 1927, the DISCOVERER was transferred to hydrographic work in the Hawaiian Islands, surveyed the coast of California in 1928 and 1929, and returned to Alaskan waters until 1940.
On August 26, 1941, the ship returned to the Navy and underwent conversion to a salvage vessel (ARS-3), but retained the name DISCOVERER. She served civilian crews during WWII. On January 28, 1947, its quiet career of faithful service over, this first DISCOVERER was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register.