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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

USS Redwing (ARS 4)



Call sign:
Nan - Queen - Mike - Queen

ex-USCGC Redwing (WAT 48)



Call sign (1924):
Nan - Item - King - George

Call sign (1933):
Negative - Roger - Cast - Fox

ex-USS Redwing (AM 48)
ex-USS Redwing Minesweeper No. 48



Call sign (1919):
George - Boy - Fox - Cast

Redwing served both the U. S. Navy and U. S. Coast Guard

Sunk 29 June 1943
Lapwing Class Minesweeper:

  • Laid down 6 August 1918 by the Baltimore Dry Dock and Shipbuilding Co., Baltimore, Maryland
  • Launched 7 June 1919
  • Commissioned USS Redwing, Minesweeper No. 48, 17 October 1919
  • Designated AM-48, 17 July 1920
  • Decommissioned 14 April 1922
  • Transferred to the Coast Guard 24 May 1924 at Norfolk, VA
  • Placed in commission as USCGC Redwing (WAT 48), 11 October 1924 at Norfolk
  • She was stationed on the West Coast throughout most of her Coast Guard. From July - August 1940 and May - June 1941 she was used for special cruises in the Bering Sea and Bristol Bay to study fish
  • Custody returned to U.S. Navy 29 August 1941
  • Converted to a Rescue and Salvage Ship at Brooklyn Navy Yard
  • Recommissioned USS Redwing (ARS-4), 28 October 1941
  • Lost to underwater mine explosion off Bizerte, Tunisia, 29 June 1943
  • Struck from the Navy Register 19 August 1943.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 950 t.(lt) 1,009 t.(fl)
  • Length 187' 10"
  • Beam 35' 6"
  • Draft 9' 9"
  • Speed 14 kts.
  • Complement 72
  • Armament: One 11-pounder and two machine guns
    World War II - Two 3"/50s dual purpose mounts and two 20mm mounts
  • Propulsion: One 1,400shp Harlan and Hollingsworth, vertical triple-expansion steam engine, one shaft.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    USS Redwing (Minesweeper No. 48)
    Redwing 25k
    Namesake:

    Redwing - A northern European songbird, the smallest of the thrushes, with an orange-red patch on the underside of the wings

    		 Tommy Trampp
    Redwing 65k c. September 1919
    Seen here prior to commissioning as Minesweeper No. 48 at her builders yard, Baltimore Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co.
    U.S. Navy photo    		 Submitted by Robert Blackman to National Association of Fleet Tug Sailors
    USS Redwing (AM 48)
    PE-60 815k 26 October 1920
    Norfolk Navy Yard
    Yard Craft Wayne of Buffalo, New York in foreground; PE-60, U.S. Navy Freight Lighter 85, USS Proteus (AC-9) and Redwing in
    the background
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo, Catalog No. 75504    		 Mike Green
    Redwing 156k At the Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Virginia, 19 April 1921. USS Duncan (DD-46) is inboard of Redwing, with her forward superstructure and four smoke stacks visible in the left half of the photograph
    Panoramic photograph by Crosby, "Naval Photographer", 324 First Street, Portsmouth, Virginia
    Donation of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Museum, 1970
    Naval Historical Center photo NH 90492    		 Robert Hurst
    USCGC Redwing (WAT 48)
    Redwing
    110204808    		 321k Portland Oregon, 25 January 1930 breaking ice in the Willamette and Columbia River. Photo & text courtesy of John Spivey.
    Redwing 83k Towing the disabled Norwegian merchantman Childar in the Columbia River Bay, 5 May 1934. She spent most of her career ready to assist ships in distress in the Strait of Juan de Fuca
    Photo from "U.S. Coast Guard Cutters and Craft of World War II" by Robert L. Scheina    		 Original photo: Hyperwar U.S. Navy in World War II
    Replacement photo: Robert Hurst
    USS Redwing (ARS 4)
    Redwing 47k Off New York. The Statue of Liberty is over her bow
    U.S. Navy photo    		 Joe Radigan
    Redwing 59k 29 June 1943
    Redwing sinking in 27 fathoms after hitting a mine en route from Algiers, Algeria to Tunis, Tunisia. Five men forward were killed when the mine blew out her bow. Robert Blackman was the helmsman when Redwing sank
    Photo by Ted Dicecco, Avondale, PA from the Naval Historical Center
    Commanding Officers
    01LT Fred Charles Alfred Plagemann, USN17 October 1919 - 17 January 1921
    02LT Murray Wolffe, USN17 January 1921 - 14 April 1922
    03LT E. E. Coil, USN1942
    04LTJG Martin Conrad "Ski" Sibitzky, USN - Awarded the Navy Cross (1939)28 October 1941 - 29 June 1943
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves and Joe Radigan
    View the Redwing (AM-48)
    DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Website
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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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