U.S. Navy

Rescue & Salvage Ships (ARS)

The fleet's emergency responders — deep-sea divers, firefighters, and towing specialists who go toward the damage when everyone else is heading away. From WWII's Diver-class through the Cold War Bolster-class to today's Safeguard-class, rescue and salvage ships have pulled crippled warships off reefs, fought fires on burning hulks, and recovered everything from sunken submarines to space capsules to commercial airliners. USS Recovery plucked the Apollo 13 astronauts from the Pacific. USS Grapple spent months recovering TWA Flight 800 from the Atlantic floor. Small ships, enormous missions, and crews who volunteer for the hardest work the ocean has to offer.

World War II — Deep Sea Recovery 1942 - 1946

ARS-5 — Lead Ship, Diver-class

Lead ship of a class built to do the jobs nobody else could handle — pulling crippled warships off reefs, fighting fires on burning hulks, and sending divers down to patch torpedo damage while the shooting was still going on. Diver-class rescue ships carried heavy salvage gear, diving equipment, and the kind of crew that volunteered to go toward the damage instead of away from it. In the Pacific, these ships kept the fleet fighting by saving vessels that would otherwise have been written off as total losses. Read more

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ARS-6 — Diver-class

Named for exactly what she did — get ships and sailors out of situations that had gone badly wrong. Escape served in the Pacific where the demand for salvage work was relentless. Kamikaze strikes, mine damage, groundings on uncharted reefs, collision damage in blacked-out convoys — every day brought new work for the rescue ships. Her crew patched hulls underwater, rigged towing gear in heavy seas, and fought fires on ships loaded with ammunition. The name was aspirational for the ships she saved. Read more

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ARS-8 — Diver-class

Preserver carried the full suite of salvage equipment that made the Diver-class the backbone of Navy rescue operations: heavy-lift booms, salvage pumps capable of dewatering flooded compartments faster than the ocean could fill them, cutting torches, welding gear, and compressed air systems for both diving operations and blowing ballast from sunken wrecks. Her divers worked in conditions that would shut down any modern commercial operation — zero visibility, strong currents, and unexploded ordnance in the wreckage around them. Read more

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ARS-22 — Diver-class

Current arrived late enough in the war to spend most of her career in the postwar Navy, cleaning up the debris of the largest naval conflict in history. The Pacific was littered with sunken and grounded ships — American, Japanese, Allied — and someone had to clear the harbors, salvage what could be saved, and cut up what couldn't. It was unglamorous work that went on for years after the victory parades ended, performed by ships and crews that history mostly forgot. Read more

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ARS-23 — Diver-class

Deliver and her Diver-class sisters proved that rescue and salvage ships paid for themselves many times over. A single successful salvage operation could save a warship worth hundreds of times the cost of the ARS vessel. The Navy learned this lesson in every war — you can build the most powerful fleet in the world, but without ships that can rescue damaged vessels and return them to service, your combat power bleeds away with every hit you take. Read more

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Cold War — Forward-Deployed Salvage 1945 - 1971

ARS-38 — Lead Ship, Bolster-class

Lead ship of an improved rescue and salvage class built at the end of WWII and serving through the Cold War. Bolster incorporated lessons from wartime salvage operations — better diving systems, improved towing gear, and more powerful salvage pumps. These ships deployed forward with the fleet, often operating independently in remote waters where the nearest help was days away. When a ship went aground or caught fire, the Bolster-class was the call that went out. Read more

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ARS-39 — Bolster-class

Conserver spent decades as a Pacific Fleet asset, standing ready to respond to any salvage emergency from the Aleutians to the South China Sea. Cold War salvage work was less about battle damage and more about peacetime accidents — groundings, collisions, fires, and the occasional classified recovery mission that nobody talked about. The divers aboard Conserver trained constantly because their skills were perishable, and when the call came, there was no time to practice. Read more

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ARS-40 — Bolster-class

Primary Mission

The first ship to carry the name Grasp — a name that would return to the salvage fleet decades later with the Safeguard-class. The name captured what these ships did: they reached into the ocean and grabbed hold of vessels that were sinking, burning, or stuck, and they pulled them back. Grasp carried the same heavy salvage equipment as her sisters, including the ability to provide emergency pumping to flooding ships, compressed air to blow water from flooded compartments, and towing capability for dead-in-the-water casualties. Read more

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ARS-41 — Bolster-class

Opportune served with the Atlantic Fleet for three decades, responding to emergencies from the Caribbean to the North Atlantic. Her crew conducted hundreds of salvage, towing, and diving operations in conditions ranging from tropical hurricanes to North Atlantic winter storms. The ship's name reflected the salvage philosophy: every disaster was an opportunity to save something — a ship, a cargo, a crew. The ARS sailors took professional pride in turning catastrophe into recovery. Read more

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ARS-42 — Bolster-class

Reclaimer — the name said everything about the mission. These ships reclaimed vessels from the sea, pulling them off rocks, pumping out flooded compartments, patching holes, and towing crippled ships to safety. During the Cold War, Reclaimer also participated in classified deep-ocean recovery operations that remained secret for decades. The salvage fleet was the Navy's Swiss Army knife — officially there for rescue and towing, but quietly capable of recovering things from the ocean floor that certain agencies very much wanted back. Read more

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ARS-43 — Apollo 13 Recovery Ship

Recovery earned her place in history on April 17, 1970, when she served as the primary recovery vessel for Apollo 13 — the mission that nearly killed three astronauts and became NASA's finest hour. After Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert, and Fred Haise splashed down in the South Pacific, it was Recovery's crew that plucked them from the water. A rescue and salvage ship recovering the most famous rescue in space history. The name had never been more appropriate. From pulling damaged warships off Pacific reefs to recovering astronauts, Recovery did exactly what her name promised. Read more

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Modern Era — Current Active Class 1985 - Present

ARS-50 — Lead Ship, Safeguard-class

Lead ship of the Navy's current rescue and salvage class, Safeguard brought modern technology to the ancient art of saving ships. Equipped with dynamic positioning to hold station over a dive site without anchoring, a 10-ton crane, and advanced diving systems for deep-water work, these ships represent the state of the art in maritime salvage. Safeguard and her sisters are forward-deployed worldwide, ready to respond within hours to any salvage emergency. When a ship is sinking, burning, or stuck, the Safeguard-class gets the call. Read more

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ARS-51 — Safeguard-class

Second ship to carry the name Grasp, continuing the tradition of her Bolster-class predecessor. The Safeguard-class ships carry a mixed crew of sailors and Navy divers trained in both salvage operations and explosive ordnance disposal — because modern salvage work often involves unexploded ordnance, hazardous materials, and wreckage that can kill a diver as easily as any weapon. Grasp has participated in operations ranging from hurricane response to classified deep-ocean recovery work that the Navy acknowledges only in the vaguest terms. Read more

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ARS-52 — Safeguard-class

Salvor operates in the Western Pacific, one of the most demanding maritime environments on earth — typhoons, contested waters, and vast distances between ports. Forward-deployed to be first on scene when disaster strikes, Salvor has responded to everything from grounded cargo ships to sunken aircraft recovery. Her crew includes some of the Navy's most experienced salvage divers, trained to work at depths and in conditions that would give most commercial divers pause. The Pacific is enormous, and Salvor is often the only rescue ship within a thousand miles. Read more

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ARS-53 — TWA 800 Recovery

Grapple became part of the national consciousness in July 1996 when TWA Flight 800 exploded and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off Long Island, killing all 230 people aboard. Grapple was one of the primary Navy vessels tasked with recovering wreckage and remains from the ocean floor. Her divers worked in 120 feet of murky Atlantic water, recovering aircraft debris and human remains for months in what became one of the most extensive salvage operations in peacetime history. The work was grim, methodical, and essential — and Grapple's crew carried it with the professionalism the mission demanded. Read more

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3

Ship Classes

19+

Ships Built

80+

Years of Service

ARS

Rescue & Salvage