USC&GS Taku was a United States Coast and Geodetic Survey survey ship in service from 1898 to 1917. She was the only Coast and Geodetic Survey ship to bear the name. Taku was built by George Kneass at San Francisco, California, at a cost of $11,844.35 (USD) in 1898. The Coast and Geodetic Survey placed her in service that year. She spent her Survey career in the Pacific, primarily in the waters of the Territory of Alaska. Tragedy struck Taku's crew in 1910 when a member of her crew, Seaman H. Fitch, drowned when a small boat under sail was upset in Cordova Bay, Alaska.