Tanner (AGS 15) - Naval Cruise Book

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, 1 . . CAPTAIN GEORGE E. DAWSON - COMMANDING OFFICER Feb.1960u-Feb.l96l Captain G.E. Dawson, Commanding Officer of USS TANNER from February 1960 through Feb- ruary 1961, came to the TANNER with a wide background of Naval service. I-Ie is the holder of the Legion of Merit Cwith Combat VJ, Navy Commendation .Cwith Combat VD, U.S. Army-AirForce Commendation, U.S. Presidential Unit Citation, Philippine Presidential Unit Citation and other area Campaign and Victory Medals for active participationvin combat during World War II and sub- sequent events. Captain Dawson was bom in Oakland, California in 1914, and raised in Wichita, Kansas. He later attended school at Washington University, Rochester University and Mechanics Institute of Rochester, N.Y. He entered the Navy in an active status at the age of 18 from Wichita. His current home is located in Mclean, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, D.C. 2

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i L i i 1 I I I 'J l gift! IDL.. Jw r lf' ,f Y X if 'mtv- f M W, . ,, SHIP'S HISTORY On 5 january, 1945, the U,S.S, PAMINA CAKA-34D slid down the ways at the Walsh-Kaiser Shipyard in Providence, Rhode Island. She was assigned to the Pacific Fleet, where she served from April, 1945 until january, 1946. Her life as an AKA was short, however, as destiny decreed that she should be converted to a hydrographic survey ship. In March, she returned to the East Coast to Norfolk, Virginia, and at the Norfolk Naval Ship- yard, her metamorphosis was initiated. Conversion is assumed to have been complet ed in Septem- ber of 1946, when she was re-commissioned the U,S,S, TANNER CAGS-155 in honor of the late Lera Luther Tanner, Captain, U.S. Navy C1835-l906D, an authority on oceanography and the inven- tor of an early type of sounding machine. Her first year and a half as a hydrographic survey ship, found her off the coast of Mexico, and since that time, the TANNER has sailed to the four corners of the world. She has made four trips each to theBahama 1S1andS,Labrador and Newfoundland and the 'Eastern Mediterranean. The 1959- 60 and 1960-61 survey seasons were spent in the Persian Gulf area. Her primary mission is to provide hydrographic data for the construction of modern up-to-date navigation charts which en- able mariners to navigate safely as they ply the sea lanes of the world. . The operations of a survey task unit are both complex and demanding. To cope with the pe- culiar problems that arise in a far-off area, the TANNRR employs helicopter and marine detach- ments. Four 52 foot sounding boats, four landing craft, two amphibious DUKWS as well as many thousands of dollars worth of electronic equipment are utilized to gather vast quantities of infor- mation that is sent to the I-Iydrographic Office in Washington, D.C. for interpretation and publica- tion. She is a logistic as well as surveying ship, carrying supplies and stores for the beach camps that propagate the electronic signal used in sounding unit positioning. l df?-

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CAPTAIN HAROLD W. GEHMAN COMMANDING OFFICER Born in Philadelphia in 1917, Captain Harold W. Gehman began his military career by entering the U.S.. Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1935. Upon his graduation in 1939 he was commissioned as Ensign in the U.S. Navy. In 1941 Captain Gehman married Margaret Claire Sheehan of Norfolk, Virginia. They now have two sons, two daughters, and are presently residing at Chevy Chase, Maryland. Some of Captain Gehman's interesting Naval experiences include the following. While he was aboard the USS TUSCALOOSA during World War II the ship was one of the few to successfully make a round trip between Scapa, Scotland and Murmansk, Russia. He helped to rescue 500 per- sons from the scuttled Nazi ship, COLUMBUS,yoff the Atlantic Coast. He participated in three Presidential CF.D. Rooseveltj cruises. I-Ie was present at the historic Roosevelt-Churchill meet- ing CAtlantic Charterl in Newfoundland. Captain Gehman wears the Navy Unit Cpmmendation Ribbon as a result of duty aboard the USS LANGLEY in connection with that ship's World War II activities. Captain Gehman was Commanding Officer of the USS STRONG for two years, which included two six-month cruises in the Mediterranean as part of the U,S, SIXTHFLT, During the 1957 cruise his ship took an active part in the U.S. action off Gaza in connection with the Egyptian- Israeli conflict. 3