[1] Prior to her NOAA career, she was in commission in the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey from 1960 to 1970 as USC&GS Surveyor (OSS 32).

Her construction marked the beginning of a major effort to modernize the Coast and Geodetic Survey fleet and make it capable of conducting operations worldwide.

Maneuvering operations involve frequent replacement of the hot burners and various sizes of tips to adjust for throttle valve settings.

Top speed at that time was around 13 knots, possibly due to a damaged reduction gear within her transmission that caused a distinctive vibration in the ship while underway.

Based at Seattle, Washington, and nicknamed "Old Workhouse," Surveyor spent her career in the Pacific Ocean and Arctic Ocean, operating as far north as the Beaufort Sea off Alaska and as far south as the Palmer Peninsula in Antarctica; she conducted hydrographic surveys in such widely separated areas as Norton Sound in Alaska and American Samoa.

Without hesitation another crewman, Able-Bodied Seaman Wallace K. Kanahele, leaped into the water, rescued the man—who was suffering from hypothermia—and brought him to a small boat which had been lowered by another vessel.

[1] After her decommissioning, ex-Surveyor was moved to Seattle's Lake Washington Ship Canal, where she was decontaminated near the Ballard Locks by USS, Ltd., of Bend, Oregon.

[6] As of June 2019, the United States Coast Guard′s registration database listed OSS 2 as an active pleasure craft registered in Canada.