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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Curlew (IX 170)
ex-AM-69



Call sign:
Nan - Easy - Dog - Tare
Catbird Class Minesweeper:

  • Built in 1938 as the steel hull trawler M/V Kittiwake by the Charleston Shipbuilding and Drydock Co., Charleston, SC for the Atlantic Fisheries Co. of Charleston
  • Acquired by the Navy 6 August 1940
  • Renamed Curlew 14 August 1940
  • Conversion to a Minesweeper began 6 September 1940 at the Quincy Dry Dock and Yacht Corp., Quincy, MA
  • Commissioned USS Curlew (AM 69), 7 November 1940
  • Conversion completed 10 May 1941
  • Rescued crew of foundering fishing vessel Spring Chicken 5 April 1944 off Cape Hatteras, NC
  • Reclassified as an Unclassified Miscellaneous Auxiliary, IX-170, 1 June 1944 for use in servicing outlying stations
  • Decommissioned 5 December 1945 at Newport, RI
  • Struck from the Naval Register 19 December 1945
  • Transferred to the Maritime Commission 27 September 1946 for disposal
  • Fate unknown.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 570 t.
  • Length 147' 10"
  • Beam 28' 8"
  • Draft 12'
  • Speed 10 kts.
  • Armament: One 3"/50 dual purpose gun mount and two .30 cal. machine guns
  • Propulsion: One 575shp Fairbanks Morse diesel engine, one shaft.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    MV Kittiwake
    Curlew 151k Photographed by the builder, Charleston Shipbuilding and Drydock Co., South Carolina, soon after completion, but not later than 1 February 1938 when the ship departed South Carolina for Groton, Connecticut, where she was completed for commercial duty
    U.S. Navy photo NH 93590    		 Naval History and Heritage Command
    Curlew
    110206903    		 140k Boston, August 1, 1940 - Discarding her fishing gear (note dock at left), the modern trawler Kittiwake, one of 12 being taken over here by the U.S. Navy for use as mineweepers, is shown at her dock today. She will be taken to a Quincy ship yard to be equipped for war service.
    AP wirephoto    		 Dave Wright
    USS Curlew (AM 69)
    Curlew 39k
    Namesake:

    Curlew - A large bird having long legs and a long, slender, downward-curved bill

    		 Tommy Trampp
    Curlew 159k During World War II
    U.S. Navy photo NH 89210    		 Naval History and Heritage Command>
    Commanding Officers
    01LT William Thomas Patrick, USNR7 November 1940 - June 1943
    02LT Denton H. Elliott, USNRJune 1943 - 26 September 1943
    03LT Joseph G. Rollins, Jr., USNR26 September 1943 - 5 December 1945
    Courtesy of Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves
    View the Curlew (AM 69)
    DANFS history entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway website
    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 Index Back to the Unclassified Miscellaneous Auxiliary Ship (IX) Photo Index
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    This page is created and maintained by Joseph M. Radigan (of blessed memory) & David Wright
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    Last Updated 28 February 2025