The first Pamina was laid down in 1944 by the WalshKaiser Co., Inc., Providence, R.I.; launched
5 January 1945; sponsored by Mrs. Ralph M. Johnston; commissioned 10 February 1945, Lt. Comdr. E. P. Teague in command.
Following shakedown Pamina transited the Panama Canal and reported to Amphibious Force, Pacific
Fleet, Pearl Harbor. After intensive training with other vessels of her type, she departed Pearl Harbor 22 April and arrived
Okinawa 15 May to deliver important cargo and to render valuable assistance to combat operations ashore. She operated in the
South, Southwest and Western Pacific areas for the remainder of World War II. Immediately thereafter she transported occupation
forces to Japan and returning servicemen to the United States. Pamina was reclassified AGS–15 and renamed Tanner 15
May 1946.
After sea trials during November and December, Tanner conducted hydrographic survey operations off
the east coast of Mexico. She continued similar activities in the same area, off Labrador, off Trinidad and off Venezuela
for the next four years. In January 1951, she began survey work in the Bahamas in connection with a guided missile testing
range, work which she continued with only occasional missions elsewhere until the summer of 1952. At that time she returned
northward and after a period in New York Naval Shipyard proceeded to northwest Greenland for extensive priority survey work.
She concluded the season with a survey of a small island in the Canadian Arctic where a harbor was named “Tanner Bay”
in her honor. From 1954 to 1958, Tanner operated primarily off the southern coast of Turkey with 27,255 miles steamed during
139 days in the survey area in the spring and summer of 1956. Again in the Bahamas in 1959, she became part of the Persian
Gulf Survey Unit later that year. After extensive work in the Near East, she conducted research in the Barents Sea in 1963,
in the deep dive area off Norfolk in 1964, and in the northern Aegean Sea 15 November 1965 to 15 March 1966. Tanner deployed
19 October from Pearl Harbor for survey operations in the South China Sea off the Mekong Delta coast of South Viet Nam. She
returned to the coast of South Viet Nam and to the Gulf of Thailand in 1967 and 1968.
Following survey operations in the Western Pacific early in 1969 and with long and distinguished
service to her credit, Tanner began her decommissioning process 14 July. She was struck from the Naval Vessel Register 1 August
and transferred to the Maritime Administration for disposal.
