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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Penguin (AM 33)



Call sign (1919):
George - Tare - Vice - Boy

Call sign (1924):
Nan - Easy - Cast - Tare

ex-Minesweeper No. 33

Scuttled 8 December 1941
Lapwing Class Minesweeper:

  • Laid down 17 November 1917 by the New Jersey Dry Dock and Transportation Co., Elizabethport, NJ
  • Launched 12 June 1918
  • Commissioned USS Penguin (Minesweeper No. 33), 21 November 1918
  • Designated AM-33, 17 July 1920
  • Decommissioned 1 June 1922 at Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii and laid up in reserve
  • Recommissioned 13 October 1923
  • Rescued 24-man crew of Japanese fishing Schooner No. 1 Seiho Maru stranded off reef southeast coast of Guam, 15 January 1940
  • Transferred the 24 survivors to Japanese freighter Saipan Maru, 21 January 1940
  • Scuttled by her crew 8 December 1941 in 200 fathoms at Agana Harbor, Guam to prevent capture by the Japanese.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 1,009 t.
  • Length 187' 10"
  • Beam 35' 6'
  • Draft 10' 4"
  • Speed 14 kts.
  • Complement 78
  • Armament: Two 3"/50 gun mounts
  • Propulsion: Two 200psi saturated steam Babcock and Wilcox header boilers, one 1,400shp vertical triple expansion reciprocating steam engine, one shaft.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    USS Penguin (Minesweeper No. 33)
    Penguin 40k
    Namesake:

    Penguin - A bird of the Antarctic

    		 Tommy Trampp
    Penguin 173k Liberty party gathered on the ship's stern, preparing to go ashore after reviewing the Fleet in New York Harbor, 26 December 1918
    U.S. Navy photo NH 59647    		 Naval Historical Center
    Penguin 79k Close astern of USS Scranton (ID 3511), as a Chief Petty Officer is "putting the heaving line 60 ft." between the two ships, circa 28 March 1919. Note the line's weight in the air above Penguin's bow
    Photograph from the USS Scranton photo album kept by J.D. Bartar, one of her crew members
    U.S. Navy photo NH 99450
    Penguin 73k Underway near USS Scranton (ID 3511), probably circa 28 March 1919
    Photograph from the USS Scranton photo album kept by J.D. Bartar, one of her crew members
    U.S. Navy photo NH 99458
    Penguin 116k Steaming at full speed for Scapa Flow, 21 June 1919, during an unsuccessful effort to arrive in time to save some of the German warships scuttled there on that day. Note the identification letters "PD" on her bow.
    Halftone reproduction of a photograph taken by DeLong, of USS Black Hawk [ID 2140], published in the cruise book "Sweeping the North Sea Mine Barrage, 1919", page 38.
    Donation of Chief Storekeeper Charles A. Free.
    U.S. Navy photo NH 99472
    Penguin 107k Penguin, at left and USS Lapwing (Minesweeper # 1), "Coming up to repass" sweep gear, after exploding a mine during the sweeping of the North Sea Mine Barrage in 1919. Note the identification letters on the ships' bows: "PD" on Penguin and "W" on Lapwing.
    Halftone reproduction of a photograph taken by DeLong, of USS Black Hawk [ID 2140], published in the cruise book "Sweeping the North Sea Mine Barrage, 1919", page 59.
    Donation of Chief Storekeeper Charles A. Free.
    U.S. Navy photo NH 99473
    Penguin 80k "The Buoy Laying Division in Kirkwall Harbor." From left to right, in center: USS Osprey (Minesweeper # 29), Penguin, and USS Lapwing (Minesweeper # 1) moored together in Kirkwall Harbor, Orkney Islands, during the sweeping of the North Sea Mine Barrage, 1919. Note the identification letters on the ships' bows: "A" on Osprey, "PD" on Penguin and "W" on Lapwing.
    Halftone reproduction of a photograph taken by Kitress, of USS Swan [Minesweeper No. 34], published in the cruise book "Sweeping the North Sea Mine Barrage, 1919", page 63.
    Donation of Chief Storekeeper Charles A. Free.
    U.S. Navy photo NH 99474
    Penguin 267k Original photo: Ship's Officers and Crew, 1919.
    Halftone reproduction of a photograph, published in the cruise book "Sweeping the North Sea Mine Barrage, 1919", page 137.
    Donation of Chief Storekeeper Charles A. Free.
    U.S. Navy photo NH 99475
    Replacement photo: Photo from "Sweeping the North Sea Mine Barrage" by the U.S. Navy North Sea Minesweeping Detachment    		 Original photo: Naval Historical Center
    Replacement photo: Joe Radigan
    USS Penguin (AM 33)
    Penguin 362k Crew photo Frederick J. Moisson
    Collection Manager & Volunteer Coordinator
    Museum of Military History
    Kissimmee, Florida
    Penguin 86k Guam Guard Mail Stamp Tommy Trampp
    Photo added 4 November 2020
    Penguin 147k Underway off Shanghai, China, circa the later 1920s, following conversion for river gunboat service.
    U.S. Navy photo NH 50755    		 Naval Historical Center
    Commanding Officers
    01LTJG Edgar Taylor Hammond, USN - Awarded the Navy Cross (1919)21 November 1918 - 20 August 1919
    02LTJG Richard Evans Miegel, USN20 August 1919 - 29 August 1919
    03LTJG Enos Dahuff, USN - Awarded the Navy Cross (1918)29 August 1919 - September 1919
    04LT William Reginald Spear, USN - Awarded the Navy Cross (1919)September 1919 - 1 June 1922
    05LCDR Herbert Grenville Gates, Jr., USN13 October 1923 - 6 February 1924
    06LCDR Julian Burton Timberlake, Jr., USN - USNA Class of 19136 February 1924 - 11 October 1925
    07LCDR Charles Nelson Ingraham, USN - USNA Class of 1913
    Awarded the Army Distinguished Service Medal (1919) - Retired as Captain    		11 October 1925 - 21 June 1927
    08LCDR James Madison Doyle, USN - USNA Class of 1909
    Awarded the Navy Cross (1918) - Retired as Commander    		21 June 1927 - 1 July 1928
    09LT Ove Peter Octavius Hansen, USN1 July 1928 - 1929
    10LT Richard Brittain Tuggle, USN - USNA Class of 1919
    Awarded the Legion of Merit (1944) - Retired as Rear Admiral    		1929 - 1 July 1930
    11LCDR Ernest Adams Foote, USN - USNA Class of 19181 July 1930 - 5 January 1932
    12LT Malcolm Wood Pemberton, USN - USNA Class of 19225 January 1932
    13LT Kenneth Ross Hall, USN - USNA Class of 192113 April 1935 - 8 June 1936
    14LT Louis Parker Fairlamb, USN - USNA Class of 19278 June 1936 - April 1939
    15LT Ellis Kerr Wakefield, USN - USNA Class of 1930
    Awarded the Silver Star (1944) - Retired as Rear Admiral    		April 1939 - June 1941
    16LT James William Haviland, III, USN - USNA Class of 1925
    Awarded the Silver Star (1941) and the Prisoner of War Medal (1941/1945) - Retired as Rear Admiral    		June 1941 - 8 December 1941
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves and Joe Radigan
    View the Penguin (AM 33)
    DANFS history entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway website
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