The Curtiss-Wright SO3C Seamew was designed to replace the company's own SOC Seagull biplane which had been the pre-eminent scout and observations floatplane of the US Navy during the 1930s. Like most aircraft of its type it featured a main central float with underwing outriggers but could also operate as a landplane with fixed undercarriage. Unfortunately however, the SOC3 proved to be a dismal failure in service due to serious stability and control problems which required a number of structural changes such as upturned wing tips and larger tail surfaces. More problematic, however, was its inverted V-12 air-cooled inline engine which was unique among all other radial-equipped USN floatplanes. It resulted in consistently poor performance and reliability issues. A large number of these aircraft were sent to the Royal Navy but ended up being employed solely as trainers, the US Navy also quickly retired their own converting them into target drones going so far as to replace them with their antiquated predecessor, the Seagull.

Maiden flight of the prototype XSOC-1 took place on 6 October 1939 and was followed by the first batch of production aircraft in mid-1942, the SO3C-1. Later, the SO3C-2 was introduced with arrestor gear for carrier operations and underfuselage weaponry for landplane units while the SO3C-2C had upgraded electrics and engines (these were known in RN service as the Seamew Mk. I which were all supplied as land-planes). Finally, the SO3C-1K was a radio controlled target drone conversion after it was decided to remove them from service. A planned production version by Ryan was designated SOR-1 but was abandoned due to its poor record.