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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Symbol (AM 123)



Call sign:
November - Bravo - Echo - Delta


Symbol served the Navies of the United States and Mexico.
Auk Class Minesweeper:

  • Laid down 18 November 1941 by Savannah Machinery and Foundry Co., Savannah, GA
  • Launched 2 July 1942
  • Commissioned USS Symbol (AM 123), 10 December 1942
  • Damaged 10 June 1944 by near-miss from heavy German air raid off Anzio, Italy
  • Decommissioned 31 May 1946 at San Diego, CA
    Naval Vessel Register of 1 January 1949 lists out of commission, in reserve as December 1945
  • Recommissioned, 28 October 1950
  • Placed out of commission, in reserve, 27 July 1956
  • Struck from the Navy Register 1 July 1972, transferred to Mexico and renamed ARM Guillermo Prieto (G 02)
  • Fate unknown.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 890 t.
  • Length 221' 2"
  • Beam 32'
  • Draft 10' 9"
  • Speed 18.1 kts.
  • Complement 105
  • Armament: One 3"/50 dual purpose gun mount, two 40mm gun mounts, two 20mm gun mounts, two depth charge tracks and five depth charge projectors
  • Propulsion: Two 1,766shp General Motors 12-278 diesel electric engines, Farrel-Birmingham reduction gear, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Symbol 89k Clay Riley EM2
    via
    Frank Hall
    Symbol 40k Joe Radigan
    Symbol 263k David Buell
    Symbol 53k Recovering a "Dummy" mine Frank Hall
    Symbol 167k
    Symbol 118k Russ Padden
    Commanding Officers
    01LCDR Robert Copeland Brown, USN10 December 1942 - 8 June 1943
    02LCDR Richard Lagreze, USNR8 June 1943 - 23 February 1945
    03LCDR Eldred Donald Caldwell, USNR23 February 1945 - 10 April 1946
    04LTJG Cecil L. Griffin, Jr., USNR10 April 1946
    05ENS James Irvin Wyer, USNR1 May 1946 - 31 May 1946
    06LT Paul Donald Drummond, USN28 October 1950 - September 1951
    07LT Hans T. Jacobsen, USNRSeptember 1951 - September 1952
    08LCDR Ernest Edward Hollyfield, Jr., USN - USNA Class of 1944September 1952 - April 1954
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves and R. A. Moody
    View the Symbol (AM 123)
    DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Website
    Back To The Main Photo Index Back To the Mine Warfare Ship Photo Index Back to the Minesweeper (AM) Photo Index
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    This page created and maintained by Joseph M. Radigan (of blessed memory) & David Wright

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