Compiled by the Office of NOAA Corps Operations

“ The PATHFINDER began its second cruise on December 18, 1944, when she sailed from San Francisco Bay bound for Pearl Harbor, Oahu, T.H. After a rough but uneventful trip, the PATHFINDER put into Pearl Harbor on December 26, 1944, to await her next survey assignment. During this time, the war had moved north of the Solomons and New Guinea and west of the Caroline, Marshall, and Marianas Islands, so the PATHFINDER knew that her next important operation would be in the Western Pacific. ”

“ Anchorages were wire-dragged, invasion beaches surveyed before the U. S. Marines or Army landed, tide information determined and provided to amphibious planners, tactical operating areas delineated, passages blasted through coral reefs, and charts printed and distributed to fleet units either in anticipation of amphibious operations or to expedite the establishment of supply and refitting bases. This work was not without its hazards as the PATHFINDER alone was subjected to over 50 enemy bombing raids, shot down 2 Japanese torpedo bombers, and was crashed by a kamikaze at Okinawa. ”

“ I learned my group was a part of the attack force scheduled to take Green Islands, a small coral atoll about 50 miles north of Bougainville and opposite New Ireland.
"The survey of Green Islands was requested because the Commander of the Third Fleet desired fighter plane protection for the bombers engaged with daily activity over Rabaul, Kavienge and Bougainville. The distance from the Russel Islands and Guadalcanal was too far for fighter escorts to remain over the target area for the duration of a raid because they did not have the necessary fuel capacity even with wing tanks. ”

“ The PATHFINDER, as well as being a combat survey ship, made many innovations and markedly increased the efficiency of chart production and chart distribution in the forward areas. Prior to sailing from the U.S., the Navy outfitted the PATHFINDER with printing press, photographic equipment, and all equipment necessary for printing charts in the field. The compilation and publishing of charts aboard ship was never done prior to WWII. A major obstacle to accomplishing this was that no one on board had ever worked in a printing plant. ”

“ Fila Harbor on Efate was surveyed and wire-dragged, to enlarge the safe anchorage area for units of the fleet engaged in training activities.
"The next job was a two week's tour of duty in Sydney, Australia for the purpose of rest, rehabilitation and recreation. Civilization proved much too alluring for the accomplishment of the first purpose, but the other two were accomplished with sufficient vigor and enthusiasm to more than atone for the omission. ”

“ The ship was out doing hydrography between Florida and Guadalcanal Islands at the time. I had the wire drag out and was on the 30-foot guide launch about two miles east of the ship. Our first knowledge of the actual attack was a geyser of water next to the PATHFINDER caused by the near-miss of a dive bomber. A number of planes pealed out of the sun at the same time attacking aircraft in the vicinity of the PATHFINDER. One of these escaped fire from the ships and came directly towards us and commenced strafing. All personnel topside dove over the side. ”

“ Shoran equipment, a special type of radar, was used extensively in the hydrographic surveys of Bristol Bay. Fuel, provisions and other supplies were obtained at Dutch Harbor, the field base of operations when working the Bristol Bay area.
Shoran (Short Range Navigation) gives quite accurate determination of position. Developed during W.W.II to control the position of aircraft in flight, Shoran was adapted by the Coast and Geodetic Survey in 1945 for the positioning of sounding vessels. ”

“ WARTIME EXPERIENCES OF THE USS PATHFINDER FORWARD At the beginning of WWII, Lorin Woodcock was a young C&GS officer with not quite a year's service. He joined the PATHFINDER at Funafuti in the Ellice Islands and served on the ship throughout the remainder of its first tour of duty in the South Pacific. Following the war, he returned to the C&GS and retired in 1968. NARRATIVE THE U.S.S. PATHFINDER AND WORLD WAR II "When World War II broke out, the PATHFINDER was still in a Lake Washington shipyard, being constructed by the Coast Survey for survey duty in Alaska. ”

“ The ship force were tired but orders were received to survey and chart Pallikula and Turtle Bay and approaches which was done in about 2 weeks time. Then Commander Boak [J.E. Boak, Commanding Officer U.S. Naval Advanced Base, Espiritu Santo] assigned the job of finding an anchorage for a large floating dry dock. The ship revised the chart of Espiritu Santo somewhat and then proceeded south to Undine Bay. Being open to the sea, the PATHFINDER stationed a launch one mile out to give warning of any attack. Here the wire drag kept hanging on a mine which was charted and marked as a buoyed danger. ”

“ The surveys of the Russell Islands were for staging a great Invasion Armada, while Manning Straits was useful in the naval battles.
"The PATHFINDER was escorted up the 'Slot' to the north end of New Georgia Island which had been captured by the U.S. Marines in the Battle of Munda, New Georgia. Lieutenant Schoene was in charge of the survey party for the OCEANOGRAPHER during the invasion of Munda. The ship [PATHFINDER] anchored in the middle of Hathorn Sound. The officers and crew laid out a baseline and took astronomic sights for a position. ”

“ After returning to the PATHFINDER from Blanche Harbor, I managed to remain aboard over Xmas, but I was detached on January 15, 1944 to lead an Advanced Survey Party composed of 4 Officers and 17 men. This group proceeded to Guadalcanal from Noumea, New Caledonia. Upon arrival, we were attached to Naval Advance Base Unit 11. This was something new and the name was abbreviated thus: NABU-11. It was a group of men and officers trained and organized to land with combat trooops and immediately begin functioning as a Naval Base. ”

“ On November 7, 1943, the PATHFINDER was engaged in surveying the waters of Rendova Island, one of the islands of the New Georgia Group. The survey of Rendova consisted of triangulation, hydrography, wire drag, beacon building and setting buoys. While engaged in this survey, an advance party left the ship for the Bougainville invasion to make a survey of Empress Augusta Bay. ”

“ After a three weeks rest, the PATHFINDER received orders to Okinawa to made a survey of the western side of the island. The trip from Ulithi to Okinawa was very uneventful and it was one of the few times that the PATHFINDER was ever escorted. The ship anchored in Hagushi anchorage on May 1st and on May 4th moved up into Nago Wan to begin a survey of Toguchi. On May 6th as the ship was coming to anchor in the lee of Sesoko Island, two Kamikaze planes roared out of the sky. The first plane crashed in the port side of the 20 mm. gun platform causing little damage to the ship but killing one man. ”

“ A new electronic control system for ship and launch hydrography, Raydist DR-S, was used by PATHFINDER, replacing Shoran. Raydist, prodeuced commercially, was adapted and refined by the Coast Survey, providing more accurate and reliable positioning of vessels in open water. This equipment has a range in excess of 200 nautical miles and required two shore based stations which were, however, automatic in operation and only required an occasional visit by trained personnel. Portable units were develped for launch use and several sounding units could operate simultaneously. ”

“ PATHFINDER's first cruise took her to the Solomons and neighboring island groups. While working close to the front lines, the ship, although essentially non-combatant, experienced some fifty bombing raids and on April 7, 1943, her anti-aircraft gunners shot down two Japanese planes. In August, 1943 and in March, 1944, she was at Sydney, Australia for short periods of liberty and relaxation. She surveyed as far north as New Guinea before departing the war area for home at the end of September, 1944. PATHINDER ended her first cruise at Alameda, California, on October 21, 1944. ”

“ With the completion of this job, the PATHFINDER returned south to Espiritu Santo Island in the New Hebrides Islands, where survey operations were carried on without the interference of enemy action. An area off Bogaeio Island at the entrance to Segond Channel was surveyed and charted, for the installation of a degaussing station. An area in Segond Channel was wire-dragged for the location of a floating cruiser drydock. An extensive inshore survey of Segond Channel was made for the location of piers and docks. ”

“ Special geodetic parties working as independent units provide this basic control. However, ship parties are usually required to extend or breakdown the previously established primary control to provide a greater density of stations.
When working on a combined project where ship and launches were programmed to do hydrography, a survey ship such as PATHFINDER would anchor in a protected area as close to the general working area as possible. Launch and other small boat parties would then be dispatched to work ashore or close into shore. ”

“ She later was to be designated Ocean Survey Ship 30 and carry the legend OSS 30 on her bow. She was berthed at the south end of Lake Union at leased facilities along with other units of the Survey fleet.
During the field seasons 1947 through 1950, PATHFINDER continued surveys in the Bristol Bay area. Previous charts were largely based on hydrography extended beyond the visual range of the shoreline by dead reckoning lines. Dead reckoning at its best is far from exact, as too many variables such as currents and imperfect steering can only be estimated. ”

“ At this period all supplies were landed on Guadalcanal by lighter, and the purpose of the survey was to provide anchorages as close to shore as possible, thereby expediting unloading operations. While engaged on this job, the PATHFINDER participated in a surprise daylight air-raid by about 150 Jap planes. With half her crew out on field parties she accounted for two dive-bombers, and after the action, rendered invaluable medical aid to injured personnel from the AARON WARD, a destroyer which took a bomb in her engine room during the action and later sunk. ”

“ There have been few breaches of discipline and none of a serious nature. All hands have worked diligently and faithfully to establish the PATHFINDER's unequalled record. They merit the utmost credit for the results. ”

“ Following the Funafuti survey, the ship moved down to Noumea, New Caledonia. While there Ernie Stohsner was strolling through Noumea and ran into his friend Lorin Woodcock directing a group of SeaBees constructing a brig. This wasn't a very productive way for a C&GS hydrographer to be spending his time so, as Schoene was being transferred to the OCEANOGRAPHER, permission was asked for Woodcock to join the PATHFINDER. Permission was granted and Woodcock joined the ship for the next 2 years. ”

“ The ship was recharting the shoreline and ocean bottom off of Shelikof Strait, Kodiak and the Aleutian Islands to update the charts due to the changes after the 1964 earthquake.
"Much of my job was loading and unloading equipment from the ship to small boats for the scientists and surveyors. The rest of the time was spent scrubbing decks and general ship maintenance.
"Most of the maintenance was chipping paint. Chipping paint seems to be an ancient time consuming tradition of the sea. It's primary purpose apparently is to keep sailors busy so they don't get bored. ”

“ Upon completion of minor repairs, stores and provisions were loaded and the ship steamed out of San Francisco Bay on November 10, 1942, setting course for Pearl Harbor. PATHFINDER departed Pearl Harbor on November 28 on the first of her two long wartime cruises. It should be noted that during the time when the ship was with the Navy seven experienced C&GS officers were aboard initially in a transfer status. This immediately brought a wealth of survey knowledge to a ship on a special mission. ”

“ This equipment worked very well in such an area as Bristol Bay where weather conditions often precluded visual sights upon shore signals for location of the sounding vessel, either ship or launch. Shoran required trained electronic technicians to keep the equipment in proper adjustment and calibration. Survey operations in the Bristol Bay area were generally hampered by the large tidal range and extensive shoal water areas. However, Shoran has accuracy limitations when within several miles of the land stations. ”

“ It was estimated the enemy force stationed on the atoll was not over 500 men, most of them belonging to a Japanese Naval Supply Corps. My group investigated Middle and South Channels into the lagoon for least depth, ran a few exploratory lines in an east-west direction across the lagoon, and ran several sounding lines, north-south direction, along the shoreline to assist in locating LST landing sites. We also obtained 24 hours of tidal data to assist in estimating the tidal stage on 'D' day.
"'D' day for assaulting Nissan Atoll was February 15, 1944. ”

“ All usable equipment and instruments, including radio and electronic survey gear, spare parts and supplies of all types, were removed and transferred to other ship units or stored for future use. Deactivation was completed December 23, 1971. PATHFINDER's career ended when the General Auto Wrecking Co. of Ballard purchased the stripped ship, and she was scrapped at their yard in 1972.
PATHFINDER always seemed to be a happy ship. After W.W.II many of her crew, enjoying a special Civil Service status as shipboard personnel with seagoing rates, remained on the ship year after year. ”

“ The propeller was considered a submarine hazard and arrangements made for dry docking. While in San Francisco we got the service of Lt. Vincent of the Coast & Geodetic Survey ( who had been given a Navy commission) to work on the fathometers. Navy technicians had no knowledge of Coast & Geodetic Survey fathometers. [Vincent had been a Chief Radio Operator and electronic technician on Coast & Geodetic Survey ships for many years. He had been a co-inventor of the Radio Sonobuoy, originally used by the C&GS with Radio-Acoustic Ranging Navigation.] ”