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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Montgomery (DM 17)



Call sign:
Nan - Able - Xray - Jig

ex-DD-121
ex-Destroyer No. 121



Call sign (1919):
George - Tare - Boy - Quack
Wickes Class Destroyer/Stribling Class Light Minelayer:

  • Laid down 2 October 1917 by Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Corp., Newport News, VA
  • Launched 23 March 1918
  • Commissioned USS Montgomery, Destroyer No. 121, 26 July 1918
  • Designated DD-121, 17 July 1920
  • Decommissioned 6 June 1922 at San Diego, CA and laid up in the Pacific Reserve Fleet
  • Reclassified as a Light Minelayer, DM-17, 5 January 1931
  • Recommissioned 20 August 1931
  • Decommissioned 7 December 1937 at San Diego and laid up in the Pacific Reserve Fleet
  • Recommissioned 25 September 1939
  • Decommissioned 23 April 1945 at San Francisco, CA
  • Struck from the Navy Register 28 April 1945
  • Sold for scrap 11 March 1946.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 1,090 t.
  • Length 314' 4"
  • Beam 30' 10"
  • Draft 9' 2"
  • Speed 34 kts.
  • Complement 103
  • Armament: Four 4"/50 mounts, one 3"/23 mount, one depth charge projector and two depth charge tracks
  • Propulsion: Four Yarrow/Thornycroft boilers, two 24,200shp Curtis geared turbines, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Montgomery 90k
    Namesake:

    John B. Montgomery was born in New Jersey in 1794. He was appointed a Midshipman on 4 June 1812. He first served in the flagship Niagara in the victory of Lake Erie, September 1814. He was commissioned Lieutenant on 1 April 1818 and Commander on 9 December 1839. He commanded Naval Rendezvous, Boston in 1840. He was the commanding officer of the sloop-of-war Portsmouth of the Pacific Squadron (1845-48). He was promoted to Captain in 1853 and became Commander Pacific Squadron (1860-61). He was promoted to Commodore on 16 July 1862 and served as Commandant Boston Navy Yard (1862-63) and Commandant Navy Yard Washington (1864-65). He rose to the flag rank of Rear Admiral on 25 July 1866 and was Commandant Naval Station Sackett's Harbor, N.Y. (1867-69). Admiral Montgomery died on 25 March 1873 in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. At the time of his death he was on the Retired List
    Photo of John B. Montgomery from the Boston National Historical Park Collection, NPS Cat. No. BOSTS-7245

    		Robert M. Cieri/Stephen P. Carlson, Boston NHP, Charlestown Navy Yard/Tommy Trampp
    Photo added 28 February 2022
    Montgomery 150k
    Montgomery 162k Barb Rebold
    Montgomery 78k c. 1930s
    Courtesy of Robert Varrill
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 78612    		 Robert Hurst
    Montgomery 99k c. early 1941
    Pearl Harbor, HI
    Along with three other mine craft
    National Archives photo    		 Mike Green
    Montgomery 87k c. 1943
    Dutch Harbor, AK
    Montgomery 124k c. 1943
    Pearl Harbor, HI
    Hoga (YT-146), assisting Montgomery
    Photo by Frank McHale from National Association of Fleet Tug Sailors    		 Robert Hurst
    Commanding Officers
    01LCDR William Reynolds Purnell, USN - USNA Class of 1908
    Awarded the Navy Cross (1918) and two Navy Distinguished Service Medals (1942/1945) - Retired as Rear Admiral    		26 July 1918 - 4 January 1919
    02LCDR John Calvin Jennings, USN - USNA Class of 19084 January 1919 - 20 January 1920
    03LT Thomas Lamison Sprague, USN - USNA Class of 1918
    Awarded the Navy Cross (1944), the Navy Distinguished Service Medal (1945), and two Legions of Merit with Combat "V" (1944) - Retired as Admiral    		20 January 1920 - 10 November 1920
    04LT Stuart Shirley Reynolds, USN10 November 1920 - 28 December 1921
    05CDR William Alexander Glassford, Jr., USN - Retired as Vice Admiral28 December 1921 - 13 March 1922
    06LT Stuart Shirley Reynolds, USN13 March 1922 - 6 June 1922
    07CDR Lee Payne Johnson, USN25 June 1930 - March 1932
    08LCDR Lloyd Erwin Clifford, USN - USNA Class of 191721 March 1932 - 28 November 1933
    09LCDR Omar Brown Earle, USN28 November 1933 - 15 May 1935
    10LCDR William Edward Miller, USN - USNA Class of 192015 May 1935 - 20 July 1936
    11LCDR Robert Raymond Ferguson, USN1936 - 7 December 1937
    12LCDR Donald Fitzroy McLean, USN25 September 1939 - February 1941
    13LCDR Richard Allen Guthrie, USN - USNA Class of 19252 April 1941 - 10 April 1942
    14LCDR John Andrews, Jr., USN - USNA Class of 192910 April 1942 - 1 April 1943
    15LCDR Dwight Lyman Moody, USN1 April 1943 - 1 November 1943
    16LCDR Edward Herman Inman, Jr., USNR1 November 1943 - 23 May 1944
    17LT Dan Thomas Drain, USNR23 May 1944 - 23 April 1945
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves, Joe Radigan and RA Moody
    View the Montgomery (DM-17)
    DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Website
    Additional Resources and Websites of Interest
    NavSource Destroyer Pages, USS Montgomery (DD-121)
    Back to the Main Photo Index Back to the Mine Warfare Vessel Index Back to the Light Minelayer (DM) Photo Index
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