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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Cowie (DD 632)
ex-DMS-39
ex-DD-632



Call sign:
November - Uniform - Delta - Alpha
Benson Class Destroyer/Ellyson Class Highspeed Minesweeper:

  • Laid down by Boston Navy Yard, Charlestown, Massachusetts
  • Launched 27 September 1941
  • Commissioned USS Cowie (DD-632), 1 June 1942
  • Reclassified and converted to a High Speed Minesweeper, DMS-39, 30 May 1945
  • Placed out of commission in reserve 21 April 1947 and laid up in the Pacific Reserve Fleet, San Diego Group
    Naval Vessel Register of 1 January 1949 lists plan for decommissioning and placing in reserve as January 1947
  • Reclassified as a Destroyer, DD-632, 15 July 1955
  • Struck from the Navy Register 1 December 1970
  • Sold for scrap 22 February 1972.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 1,630 t.(lt), 2,200 t.(fl)
  • Length 347' 10"
  • Beam 36' 1"
  • Draft 15' 8"
  • Speed 37 kts.
  • Complement 261
  • Armament: Four 5"/38 gun mounts, four 40mm mounts, five 20mm mounts, six depth charge projectors and two depth charge tracks
  • Propulsion: Four boilers, two steam turbines, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    RADM Thomas Jefferson Cowie
    Cowie 784k
    Namesake:

    RADM Thomas Jefferson Cowie was born 15 February 1857 at Montezuma, Iowa, and served as engineer's yeoman in Alliance from 8 January 1877 to 19 October 1878, then enlisted in the Navy 21 October 1878 at Constantinople. He was commissioned as assistant paymaster from 16 June 1880, rising to the rank of Rear Admiral and the position of Paymaster General and Chief of the Bureau of Supplies and Accounts 1 July 1910. He was awarded the Navy Cross for his valuable services in connection with the Liberty Loans of World War I. Retired from the Navy 15 February 1921, he was ordered to special duty in charge of the Navy Liberty Loan section of the Navy Allotment Office in March 1921, and in June 1923 was ordered to additional duty as secretary-treasurer of the Navy Mutual Aid Association, a position which he held until his death 16 July 1936 in Washington, D.C.
    Library of Congress photo

    		 Bill Gonyo
    USS Cowie (DMS 39)
    Cowie 146k ©John Robert Barrett
    Cowie 65k 16 June 1945
    Off Boston Navy Yard
    National Archives photo BS 85005    		 Joe Radigan
    Cowie 89k c. 1945
    Pearl Harbor, HI    		 James M. Brooks, Jr.
    Cowie 324k Original photo: In San Francisco Bay with the Oakland Bay Bridge in the background circa 1946
    Photo DD 632-1 DMS-39 from the collection of the Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum
    Replacement photo: c. April 1946
    South of the Oakland San Francisco Bay Bridge
    Original and replacement photo: Darryl Baker    		 Darryl Baker
    Photo added 27 September 2021
    Commanding Officers
    01LCDR Charles Jonathan Whiting, USN1 June 1942 - 25 August 1943
    02CDR Ralph Clarence Johnson, USN - USNA Class of 1932
    Retired as Rear Admiral    		25 August 1943 - January 1945
    Courtesy of Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves
    View the Cowie (DMS-39)
    DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Website
    Additional Resources and Websites of Interest
    NavSource DD Pages, USS Cowie (DD-632)
    Back to the Main Photo Index Back to the Mine Warfare Ship Photo Index Back to the Highspeed Minesweeper (DMS) Photo Index
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    This page was created by Gary P. Priolo & maintained by Joseph M. Radigan (of blessed memory) & David Wright
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