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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Owl (AT[O]-137)
ex
Owl (AT-137) (1942-1944)
Owl (AM-2) (1920-1942)
Owl (Minewsweeper No. 2) (1918 - 1920)

International Radio Call Sign:
Nan - Zebra - Roger - Dog
NZRD

International Radio Call Sign:
Nan - Able - Cast - Sail (1924)
NACS

International Radio Call Sign:
George - Tare - Sail - Rush (1919)
GTSR

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - World War I Victory Medal (with Escort clasp)
Bottom Row - American Defense Service Medal - American Campaign Medal - World War II Victory Medal

Lapwing Class Minesweeper:

Contracted to Todd Shipyards, Brooklyn, NY

Built by Todd subsidiary, Tebo Yacht Basin Co. (YN 5)

Authorized, 04 March 1917

Ordered, 15 August 1917 (contract price $465,000)

Launched, 04 March 1918

Commissioned USS Owl (Minesweeper No. 2), 11 July 1918

Designated AM-2, 17 July 1920

Reclassified as an Ocean Tug AT-137, 01 June 1942

Reclassified as an Ocean Tug (Old) AT(O)-137, 15 May 1944

Decommissioned in the Thirteenth Naval District, 26 July 1946

Struck from the Naval Register, 1946

Sold for scrap to Pacific Metal and Salvage Co., Norland, WA, 27 June 1947

Naval Vessel Register of 1 January 1949 lists plan for transfer to the War Shipping Administration as July 1947.

Specifications:

Displacement 950 tons

1932 - 1,350 tons

Length 187' 10" overall, 174' 0" waterline

Beam 35' 6'

Draft 9' 10"

1932 - 13' 1"

Speed 14 knots

1932 - 13.5 knots

Complement 78

1932 - 85

Armament: Two 3"/50 mounts

1932 - Two 3"/50 dual purpose mounts (assigned)

1942 - Two 3"/50 dual purpose mounts, four single 20mm mounts

Propulsion: one Harlan and Hollingsworth 200psi saturated steam vertical triple expansion reciprocating steam engine, 1400shp

Two Babcock and Wilcox header boilers

one shaft

Click on thumbnail for full size image	Size	Image Description	Source
Namesake
110200211	76k	A nocturnal bird of prey	Tommy Trampp
USS Owl (AM 2)
110200201	32k		Hyperwar U.S. Navy in World War II
110200208	206k	c. 1921 Guantanamo Bay, Cuba Owl in the left foreground, three unidentified Dreadnoughts with "Blimps" in operation and an unidentified Minesweeper on the right Bureau of Medicine photo 14-0076-024	Michael G. Rhode
110200210	373k	c. June 1925 Off Hampton Roads, Virginia National Archives photo 80-G-452974 from National Museum of the U.S. Navy	Michael Mohl
110200214	77k	Owl (AM-2) underway, probably at Norfolk, circa 1935.	Dave Wright
110200207	133k	c. 1939 Atlantic side entrance to the Panama Canal Copy by M. M. Vaydanich, EM3, USS Owl	Ron Reeves
110200204	76k	c. 1940	Robert Hurst
110200203	96k	U.S. Navy photo from the 1943/1944 edition of Janes Fighting Ships	Original photo: Hyperwar U.S. Navy in World War II Replacement photo: Robert Hurst
USS Owl (AT 137)
110200206	100k	Off the Lamberts Point Docks, Norfolk, Va., on 1 January 1943. Unlike many of her sisters this ship did not have the original height of her smokestack reduced early in World War II National Archives photo 19-N-40506	Mike Green
USS Owl (AT[O] 137)
110200202	45k		Submitted by Craig Rothhammer to National Association of Fleet Tug Sailors
110200205	117k	Entering Cherbourg harbor, France, towing two barges loaded with engineer equipment, 18 July 1944. She was the first ship carrying supplies to enter Cherbourg harbor after its liberation from the Germans U.S. Army Signal Corps photo SC 193943 by Reshovsky from the Signal Corps collection in the National Archives. Naval History and Heritage Command photo from Shipscribe.com	Robert Hurst
110200209	111k	Underway near the Norfolk Navy Yard on 17 April 1945. Her armament forward has been reduced to one 3"/50 gun in a smaller gun emplacement National Archives photo 19-N-98017 from Shipscribe.com	Robert Hurst

View the Owl (AM-2)
DANFS history entry located at the Naval History & Heritage Command website

Commanding Officers
01	LT(JG) Charles Bradford Babson	11 July 1918 - 10 October 1918
02	LT August Charles Steinbrenner	10 October 1918 - 22 March 1919
03	LT Melvin Chase Kent	22 March 1919 - 06 June 1921
04	LT Alfred Doucet	06 June 1921 - 28 October 1923
05	LT Niels Drunstrup	28 October 1923 - 19 June 1925
06	LT Raymond St. Clair Beckel	19 June 1925 - 31 August 1925
07	LT Laurie Charles Parfitt	31 August 1925 - 02 January 1928
08	LT Maurice Ambrose O'Connor	02 January 1928 - 28 June 1929
09	LT Harry LeRoy Thompson	28 June 1929 - 09 April 1932
10	LT Andrew Mack Parks	09 April 1932 - 07 July 1933
11	LT Francis Dow Hamblin (USNA 1923)	07 July 1933 - 08 September 1934
12	LCDR Clyde Charlie Laws	08 September 1934 - 30 June 1937
13	LCDR Walter Coler Holt (USNA 1923)	30 June 1937 - 04 June 1939
14	LT Marshall Barton Gurney (USNA 1926)	04 June 1939 - July 1940
15	LCDR Colby Guequierre Rucker (USNA 1924)	July 1940 - 24 April 1942
16	LT Frederick George Coffin D-V(G) USNR	24 April 1942 - 14 April 1943
17	LT(JG)/LT Adnah Neyhart Caldin	14 April 1943 - 04 December 1943
18	LT(JG) Samuel Dillingham Tuttle D-V(G) USNR	04 December 1943 - 11 December 1943
19	LT James Carlton Wilson White USNR	11 December 1943 - 22 April 1944
20	LT Samuel Dillingham Tuttle D-V(G) USNR	22 April 1944 - 01 August 1944
21	LT(JG)/LT John Hugo Thomas USNR	01 August 1944 - 01 September 1945
22	LT(JG) Walter Lewis Barker D-V(G) USNR	01 September 1945 - April 1946
23	LT Eugene Wallingford	April 1946 - 26 July 1946

Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves

Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
National Association of Fleet Tug Sailors

Back To The Main Photo Index

Back To the Mine Warfare Ship Photo Index

Back to the Minesweeper (AM) Photo Index

Back to the Auxiliary Ship Photo Index

Back to the Fleet Ocean Tug (AT) Photo Index

Back to the Fleet Ocean Tug (Old) -
(AT[O]) Photo Index

Comments, Suggestions, E-mail Webmaster

This page was created by Gary P. Priolo & maintained by Joseph M. Radigan & David L. Wright

Last Updated 17 March 2024

NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Owl (AT[O]-137)ex Owl (AT-137) (1942-1944) Owl (AM-2) (1920-1942) Owl (Minewsweeper No. 2) (1918 - 1920)

Owl (AT[O]-137)
ex
Owl (AT-137) (1942-1944)
Owl (AM-2) (1920-1942)
Owl (Minewsweeper No. 2) (1918 - 1920)