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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

USS North Star (IX-148)
ex
USCGC North Star (WPG-59) (1941 - 1944)

International Radio Call Sign:
November - Juliet - Tango - Xray
NJTX

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - Combat Action Ribbon (retroactive, 23 July 1943) - American Defense Service Medal (with the bronze letter "A" device)
Bottom Row - American Campaign Medal - Europe-Africa-Middle East Campaign Medal - World War II Victory Medal

USS North Star was manned by the US Coast Guard during World War II

Coast Guard Cutter:

Built in 1932 by Berg Shipbuilding Company, Seattle, WA. as a wooden cruising cutter for the Department of the Interior

Commissioned by the Interior Department in 1932

Commissioned USCGC North Star (WPG-59), 15 May 1941

Reclassified Miscellaneous Unclassified IX-148, 15 December 1943

Decommissioned by the US Coast Guard, 13 January 1944

Transferred to the US Navy and placed in reduced commission, 13 January 1944

Decommissioned, 15 June 1945, at Seattle, WA.

Returned to the Department of the Interior, 18 June 1945

Struck from the Naval Register, 11 July 1945

Final Disposition, fate unknown

Specifications:
Displacement 2,200 t.
Length 225'
Beam 41'
Draft 18' 6" (mean)
Speed 13 kts. (max)
Complement 17 officers 116 enlisted

Armament(1942)

two single 3"/50 cal dual purpose gun mounts

six single 20mm AA gun mounts

two depth charge tracks

Propulsion

one McIntosh Seymour Diesel engine

single propeller, 1,500shp

Click On Image For Full Size Image	Size	Image Description	Contributed By
Interior Department Vessel North Star
	249k	SS North Star the supply ship of the U.S. Government's Antarctic expedition, is pictured as she was taken from her Boston, MA. dock and turned around in the stream so that she could be tied to the pier from the other side. This was done because the 37-ton snow cruiser seen on the deck of the ship overlapped after it was put aboard and would have hit the dock at low tide. The *North Star* was scheduled to leave for her destination early on Wednesday morning November 15, 1935. International News Photo	David Wright
USCGC North Star (WPG-59)
19-N-24201	125k	*USCGC North Star* (WPG-59)** near the Boston Navy Yard, 18 June 1941 after conversion for Coast Guard service. US Naval History and Heritage Command photos 19-N-24201 and 19-N-24199, US Navy Bureau of Ships photo now in the collections of the US Naval History and Heritage Command, courtesy Shipscribe.com.	Robert Hurst and Mike Green
19-N-242199	112k		Robert Hurst and Mike Green
	90k	*USCGC North Star* (WPG-59)** arrives at Little America in early 1941. Photo was taken from USS Bear (AG-29). US Navy and Marine Corps Museum/Naval Aviation Museum, Photo No. 1985.131.045	Mike Green
	24k	*USCGC North Star* (WPG-59)** underway in Greenland waters while serving with the Greenland Patrol, circa 1941-43. USCG photo from the collections of the US Coast Guard Historian's Office	Ramon Jackson
	105k	*USCGC North Star* (WPG-59)** underway on 11 July 1942, location unknown. the most prominent feature is a Grumman J2F Duck on her quarterdeck. Note the 55 gallon drums of aviation fuel carried amidships. USCG photo.	Robert Hurst
	110k	*USCGC North Star* (WPG-59)** near Boston Navy Yard, 18 June 1941, after conversion for Coast Guard service. Built for the Bureau of Indian Affairs to resupply remote outposts in Alaska, this ship participated in two Antarctic voyages and then arrived at Boston in May 1941 for duty on the Coast Guard's Greenland Patrol. US Naval History and Heritage Command, Photo # 19-N-24200 a US Navy Bureau of Ships photo, courtesy Shipscribe.com.	Mike Green
	135k	*USCGC North Star* (WPG-59) near Boston Navy Yard, 9 November 1942. This ship became USS North Star (IX-148)** when the Coast Guard released her from Greenland Patrol duty in January, 1944 but she spent most of her time in the Navy in inactive status. US Naval History and Heritage Command, Photo # 26-G-9-20-43(1), courtesy Shipscribe.com.	Mike Green