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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Grackle (AM-73)

Grackle Class Minesweeper:

  • Laid down 6 June 1929 as M/V Notre Dame by the Bath Iron Works Corp., Bath, ME for F. J. O'Hara and Sons, Inc. of Boston, MA
  • Launched 2 December 1929
  • Delivered 21 December 1929
  • Renamed Grackle 14 August 1940
  • Acquired by the Navy 16 September 1940
  • Conversion to a Minesweeper began 1 October 1940 at the Bethlehem Steel Co. of East Boston, MA
  • Commissioned USS Grackle (AM 73), 4 February 1941
  • Conversion completed 15 March 1941
  • Decommissioned 25 August 1944 at Boston
  • Struck from the Navy Register 16 September 1944
  • Transferred to the Maritime Commission for disposal 9 September 1946
    Naval Vessel Register of 1 January 1949 lists transfer to the War Shipping Administration as January 1946
  • Fate unknown.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 525 t.
  • Length 132' 4"
  • Beam 24'
  • Draft 12' 1"
  • Speed 10 kts.
  • Armament: One 3"/50 gun mount
  • Propulsion: One 500hp Cooper Bessemer diesel engine, one shaft.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Grackle 31k Namesake: Grackle - An American blackbird Tommy Trampp
    Grackle 91k Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 89212 Mike Green
    Grackle 78k 15 October 1941 Robert Hurst
    Commanding Officers
    01LCDR George Washington Allen, USN4 February 1941 - June 1941
    02LT Richard Gregory Ganahi, USN - USNA Class of 1924June 1941 - December 1941
    03LT John Robert Fels, USNRDecember 1941 - November 1942
    04LTJG Morris Samuel Lazaron, Sr., USNRNovember 1942 - 11 November 1943
    05LTJG Clarke S. Reid, USN11 November 1943 - 25 August 1944
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves
    View the Grackle (AM 73)
    DANFS history entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway website
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