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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Bulwark (AMc 68)



Call sign:
Nan - Baker - Victor - Easy

ex-Combat

Accentor Class Coastal Minesweeper:

  • The first Bulwark was laid down 15 April 1941 as Combat by Hodgden Brothers and Goudy and Stevens, East Boothbay, ME
  • Renamed Bulwark 23 May 1941
  • Launched 6 October 1941
  • Delivered and placed in service as USS Bulwark (AMc 68), 5 February 1942 at Boston, MA
  • Placed out of service 18 June 1946 at the Boston Navy Yard, Charlestown, MA
  • Struck from the Naval Register 3 July 1946
  • Transferred to the War Shipping Administration and sold to the city of Boston 12 September 1946 for use as a fire boat
  • Renamed Engine 47 in 1948
  • Renamed Joseph J. Luna in 1950 after a Boston Fire Fighter killed in WWII
  • Acquired in 1978 by Alan D. Circeo of Boston
  • Sank at her pier in Boston 18 October 2009
  • Out of documentation in 2010
  • Fate unknown.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 195 t.
  • Length 97' 1"
  • Beam 22'
  • Draft 9' 1"
  • Speed 10 kts.
  • Complement 17
  • Armament: Two .50 cal. machine guns
  • Propulsion one 400bhp Atlas 6HM-2124 diesel engine, one shaft.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    USS Bulwark (AMc 68)
    Bulwark 89k 31 January 1942 Robert Hurst
    Joseph J. Luna
    Bulwark 107k 29 September 2009
    The former Boston fireboat Joseph J. Luna at Wharf 8 of the Boston Marine Industrial Park, the former South Boston Annex of the Boston Naval Shipyard was being used as a houseboat by Capt. Al Circeo, owner of Boston Seaport Boat Charters (originally A.C. Cruise Lines)
    Photo by Stephen P. Carlson    		 Stephen P. Carlson
    Preservation Specialist
    Boston National Historical Park
    Charlestown Navy Yard
    Bulwark 122k
    View the Bulwark (AMc 68)
    DANFS history entry located on the Naval History and Heritage Command website
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