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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Pigeon (MSF 374)
ex-AM-374



Call sign:
November - India - Bravo - Bravo
Auk Class Minesweeper:

  • The second Pigeon was laid down 10 November 1944 by the Savannah Machine and Foundry Co., Savannah, GA
  • Launched 28 March 1945
  • Commissioned USS Pigeon (AM 374), 30 October 1945
    Naval Vessel Register of 1 January 1949 lists plan for decommissioning and placing in reserve as March 1946
  • Decommissioned 10 July 1946 at Orange, TX
  • Recommissioned 30 November 1950
  • Decommissioned 14 January 1955 at Green Cove Springs, FL
  • Reclassified as a Fleet Minesweeper (Steel Hull), MSF-374, 7 February 1955
  • Struck from the Naval Register 1 December 1966
  • Sold for scrap 6 October 1967.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 890 t.
  • Length 221' 1"
  • Beam 32' 2"
  • Draft 10' 9"
  • Speed 18.1 kts.
  • Complement 117
  • Armament: One 3"/50 dual purpose gun mount, two twin 40mm gun mounts, six 20mm gun mounts, one depth charge projector (hedgehog), four depth charge projectors (k-guns) and two depth
    charge tracks
  • Propulsion: Two 1,766shp General Motors 12-278A diesel electric drive engines, Westinghouse single reduction gear, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Pigeon 31k Namesake: Pigeon - A bird of stout body; short legs; and smooth compact plumage Tommy Trampp
    Photo added 14 March 2020
    Pigeon 102k Joseph M. Radigan (of blessed memory)
    Harkness 111k Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, VA
    Astern of Harkness (AMCU 12) and Fuel Oil Barge YO-224    		 Arthur Gendreau
    Pigeon 33k Photos courtesy of Ted McFerring (son of MM2 Earl Ray McFerring of the commissioning crew) from Hyperwar Ships of the U.S. Navy Robert Hurst
    Pigeon 30k
    Pigeon 176k c. November 1950
    Recommissioning    		 Mario A. Canevaro
    Pigeon 159k
    Commanding Officers
    01LCDR Robert S. Catchcart, USN30 October 1945 - 10 July 1946
    02LT Theodore Sawick, USN30 November 1950 - 1951
    03LTJG Vernon A. Harvey, USN1951
    04LCDR John William Gay, USN1952 - 1954
    05LT Robert Carl Newcomb, USN1954 - 14 January 1955
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves and R. A. Moody
    View the Pigeon (MSF 374)
    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 Fleet Minesweeper (MSF) Photo Index
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    This page created and maintained by Joseph M. Radigan (of blessed memory) & David Wright
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