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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Curlew (AM 8)



Call sign (1924):
Nan - Item - Jig - Boy

ex-Minesweeper No. 8



Call sign (1919):
George - Tare - Sail - Catch
Lapwing Class Minesweeper:

  • Laid down 1 April 1918 by the Staten Island Shipbuilding Co., Port Richmond, Staten Island, NY
  • Launched 29 August 1918
  • Commissioned USS Curlew, Minesweeper No. 8, 7 January 1919
  • Designated AM-8, 17 July 1920
  • Placed in ordinary 16 November 1920 without a crew at Portsmouth Navy Yard
  • Placed in full commission 29 December 1920
  • Decommissioned 7 February 1921
  • Recommissioned 29 October 1921
  • Served as a Submarine Tender between September 1921 - February 1923
  • Grounded 15 December 1925 and broke up on the rocks at Point Mosquito, Panama
  • Decommissioned 28 February 1926.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 950 t.
  • Length 187' 10"
  • Beam 35' 6"
  • Draft 9' 10"
  • Speed 14 kts.
  • Complement 72
  • Armament: Two 3" guns
  • Propulsion: One Harlan and Hollingsworth vertical triple expansion steam engine, one shaft.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Curlew 39k
    Namesake:

    Curlew - A large bird having long legs and a long, slender, downward-curved bill

    		Tommy Trampp
    Curlew 302k Photo from "Sweeping the North Sea Mine Barrage" by the U.S. Navy North Sea Minesweeping Detachment Joe Radigan
    Commanding Officers
    01LT John McCloy, USN - Awarded two Medals of Honor (1901 and 1914) and the Navy Cross (1919)7 January 1919 - 16 November 1920
    02LTJG John Elmer Shaw, USN10 May 1920 (Officer-in-Charge)
    03LT Harry Adams, USN3 November 1921
    04LT John Charles Rickerts, USN16 June 1921 - 3 November 1921
    05LT Thomas Withers, Jr., USN - USNA Class of 1906
    Retired as Rear Admiral    		14 July 1922 - 10 November 1922
    06LT Edwin Thomas Short, USN - USNA Class of 1914
    Awarded the Legion of Merit (1945) - Retired as Rear Admiral    		10 November 1922 - 10 March 1924
    07LT Belmar Harlow Shepley, USN10 March 1924
    08LT Charles A. Kirtley, USN1 July 1925 - 28 February 1926
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves and Joe Radigan
    View the Curlew (AM 8)
    DANFS history entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway website
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