page_title: USS Salvager
section_title: 1950-1959
hierarchical_section_title: USS Salvager / 1950-1959
caption_attribution_description: Photo #: 80-G-K-14925 (Color) USS Missouri (BB-63) aground on Thimble Shoals, Virginia, 21 January 1950, as several harbor tugs attempt to free her. She went aground on 17 January and was refloated on 1 February. Note minesweepers and other ships in the shipping channel beyond Missouri’s stern. Their apparent closeness indicates that the photograph was taken with a telephoto lens. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the U.S. National Archives.
context_page_description: USS Salvager, a Gypsy-class salvage lifting vessel of the United States Navy, was originally conceived as LSM-551, was reclassified ARS-3 on 24 April 1945; named Salvager on 1 May 1945; laid down on 27 August 1945 by the Brown Shipbuilding Corporation, Houston, Texas; launched on 7 December 1945; and commissioned on 22 March 1946, Lieutenant Commander Howard L. Kubel, USNR, in command.
context_section_description: During the fall, Salvager added minesweeping operations to her duties. Overhaul rounded out the year; and, in January 1950, she resumed operations by assistonly a portion of her mission; mine recovery, diver training, and local salvage operations including recovery of airplanes for both the US Navy and the US Air Force were also continued.
  1953 brought, for a salvage vessel, relative inactivity. Deployed only twice, to the waters off Florida and to the Caribbean, she remained in the Norfolk area for most of the year. In 1954, however, she resumed a more hectic schedule. In February, she conducted underwater demolition tests in the U.S. Virgin Islands. During the spring, she operated off the mid-Atlantic seaboard and in the Bermuda area. In July, she destroyed and cleared the wreckage of YFN-6 from Delaware Bay; and, in August, she moved north to Nantucket, MA to conduct a survey of current and tide conditions and their effects upon the bottom. Three months later, she moved into the British West Indies to clear obstructions near Eleuthera Island; and, in December, she returned to Norfolk.
  Through the remainder of the 1950s, Salvager continued her varied activities. Major operations included the raising of downed aircraft and sunken district and landing craft; unbeaching of LST's; refloating a destroyer, Basilone (DD-824); destruction of the long-sunken hulk of the battleship Texas; mooring and logistic support for experimental and scientific work; excavation of trenches and laying of cables; location and recovery of a misfired space capsule; and special operations requested by the Bureau of Ships.
caption: USS Missouri was accidentally grounded early on the morning of 17 January 1950.
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