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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Heron (AVP 2)



Call sign:
Nan - Easy - Nan - Love

ex-AM-10
ex-Minesweeper No. 10



Call sign (1919):
George - Tare - Sail - King
Lapwing Class Minesweeper:

  • Laid down, 26 August 1917 by Standard Shipbuilding Co., New York
  • Launched, 18 May 1918
  • Commissioned USS Heron, Minesweeper No. 10, 30 October 1918
  • Designated AM-10, 17 February 1920
  • Decommissioned 6 April 1922 at Cavite Navy Yard, Philippine Islands
  • Recommissioned, 18 December 1924
  • Reclassified as a Small Seaplane Tender, AVP-2, 27 January 1936
  • Decommissioned 12 February 1946 at Subic Bay Naval Station, PI
  • Struck from the Naval Register 1 May 1946
  • Transferred to the U.S. State Department, Foreign Liquidation Commission 15 May 1946 for disposal
  • Sold for scrap 25 July 1947 to Kiangnan Dockyard, Shanghai, China
  • Removed from Subic Bay 2 September 1947.

    AM-10 Specifications:

  • Displacement 950 t.
    1936 - 1,350 t.
  • Length 187' 10"
  • Beam 35' 6'
  • Draft 9' 10"
    1936 - 13' 1"
  • Speed 14 kts.
    1936 - 13.5 kts.
  • Complement 78
    1936 - 85
  • Armament: Two 3" gun mounts and machine guns
    1936 - Two 3"/50 dual purpose mounts
  • Propulsion: Two Babcock and Wilcox header boilers,one 1,400shp Harlan and Hollingsworth, vertical triple-expansion steam engine, one shaft.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Heron (Minesweeper No. 10)
    Heron 71k
    Namesake:

    Heron - A long-necked, long-legged wading shore bird indigenous to Louisiana and the vast coastal marshlands

    		 Tommy Trampp
    Heron 262k 18 May 1918
    Launching
    National Archives photo 76340 by the International Film Service    		 Michael Mohl
    USS Heron (Minesweeper No. 10)
    Heron 167k Photos from "Sweeping the North Sea Mine Barrage" by the U.S. Navy North Sea Minesweeping Detachment Joe Radigan
    Heron 252k
    USS Heron (AM 10)
    Heron 145k U.S. Navy photo Jim Kurrasch, Battleship Iowa, Pacific Battleship Center
    Heron 59k Seen here tending seaplanes, c. 18 December 1924 to 21 January 1936.
    U.S. Navy photo     		Original photo: Hazegray & Underway Web Site
    Replacement photo: Robert Hurst
    Heron 48k Chefoo, China. U.S. warships inside and outside the breakwater, during the 1930s.
    Among the ships present are USS Black Hawk (AD-9), in left center, with a nest of four destroyers alongside. USS Whipple (DD-217) is the outboard unit of these four. Heron is alongside the breakwater, at right. Left-most of the four destroyers outside the breakwater is USS Stewart (DD-224)
    Color-tinted photograph by the Ah-Fung O.K. Photo Service
    Courtesy of James E. Thompson, 1979
    U.S. Navy photo NH 90544-KN         		Naval Historical Center
    Heron 48k Panoramic photograph of the ship moored at Chefoo, China, with destroyers and a minesweeper nested alongside, circa the late 1930s. Ships alongside Black Hawk are (from left to right): USS Paul Jones (DD-230); USS John D. Ford (DD-228); USS Peary (DD-226); and Heron, wearing her old minesweeper number: AM-10. A Grumman JF amphibian, one of the airplanes tended by Heron is moored at right
    Courtesy of Photographer's Mate First Class Harold Gerwien, USN, 1986.
    U.S. Navy photo NH 95960
    Heron 160k c. 1930s
    Chefoo, China
    Moored at the quay wall. Anchored out is Black Hawk (AD 9) with the destroyers Edsall (DD 219), Bulmer (DD 222), Parrott (DD 218) and Stewart
    (DD 224)     alongside
    From the collection of LCDR Rayborn M. Hall, USN     		Nancy Hall Anderson
    Heron 111k Heron carrying two Vought O2U-2 scout planes of Scouting Eight (VS-8) while serving in the Asiatic Fleet on 15 December 1930
    National Archives, photo 80-G-1017155     		Mike Green
    Heron 48k USS Black Hawk (AD-9) at Manila, Philippine Islands, 15 November 1935, with four destroyers and Heron nested alongside. The four destroyers are (from left to right): USS Whipple (DD-217); USS John D. Edwards (DD-216); USS Smith Thompson (DD-212); and USS Barker (DD-213). All ships are "full dressed" with flags in honor of the inauguration of Philippine President Manuel Quezon
    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives
    U.S. Navy photo 80-G-1025121         		Naval Historical Center
    Heron 91k Serving as an aircraft tender before 1936
    U.S. Navy photo from the Naval History and Heritage Command     		Robert Hurst
    USS Heron (AVP 2)
    Heron 48k U.S. Navy photo Submitted by Fred Reep to National Association of Fleet Tug Sailors
    Heron 155k c. 1939
    Chefoo, China
    Heron, still wearing her Minesweeper hull number, moored outboard of USS Pope (DD 225) and USS Black Hawk (AD-9)
    Photo from Navy Memorial    		 Don Kehn, Jr.
    Heron 129k A U.S. Navy Martin T4M-1 attached to the small seaplane tender Heron in the late thirties
    Martin photo 22135 from "United States Navy Aircraft Since 1911" by Gordon Swanborough and Peter M. Bowers     		Robert Hurst
    Heron
    110201012    		 1.05k WW II photo of the Heron (AVP 2). Note 20MM guns. Darryl L. Baker
    Commanding Officers
    01LT Karl Rundquist, USN - Awarded the Navy Cross (1919)30 October 1918
    02LTJG Carl Axelson, USN25 October 1920 - 24 March 1921
    03Boatswain Elmer James Cross, USN24 March 1921 - 6 April 1922
    04LT Herbert John Grassie, USN - Retired as Rear Admiral18 December 1924 - 13 April 1925
    05LT Lloyd Erwin Clifford, USN13 April 1925 - 21 February 1928
    06LT Arthur Chester Leonard, USN21 February 1928 - 15 June 1929
    07LCDR Samuel Hansford Hurt, USN - Awarded the Navy Cross (1944) and the Legion of Merit (1946)
    Retired as Rear Admiral    		15 June 1929 - 19 June 1931
    08LT Ehrwald Frank Beck, USN19 June 1931 - 14 January 1935
    09LTJG Robert DeCoursey Baker, USN14 January 1935 - 27 July 1936
    10LCDR Robert Green Lockhart, USN27 July 1936 - 8 January 1938
    11LT Charles Richard Carroll, USN8 January 1938 - 11 October 1940
    12LCDR William Leverette Kabler, USN - USNA Class of 1929
    Awarded the Navy Cross (December 1941), Commendation Ribbon with Combat "V", Army Commendation Ribbon, Army Distinguished Unit Badge and the Navy Unit Commendation (1942 Heron) - Retired as Rear Admiral    		11 October 1940 - 10 September 1941
    13LT Richard Cross Lake, USN10 September 1941 - 3 March 1942
    14LT Andrew Lynn Burgess, USN - USNA Class of 19383 March 1942 - 6 October 1943
    15LTJG John Matthew Norcott, USNR6 October 1943 - 1 August 1945
    16LT James Francis Clarke, USN1 August 1945 - 12 February 1946
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves and Joe Radigan
    View the Heron (AM-10)
    DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Website
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