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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Triumph (MMC-3)
ex-USS Triumph (MSF 323)
ex-USS Triumph (AM 323)



Call sign:
November - Charlie - Quebec - Golf

ex-HMS Espoir (BAM 23)


Triumph served the Navies of the United States and Norway
Auk Class Minesweeper/Strive Class Minelayer:

  • Laid down 27 October 1942 for the Royal Navy as HMS Espoir (BAM 23) by the Associated Shipbuilding Corp., Seattle, WA
  • Renamed/reclassified USS Triumph (AM 323), 23 January 1943
  • Launched 25 February 1943
  • Commissioned USS Triumph (AM-323), 3 February 1944
    Naval Vessel Register of 1 January 1949 lists plan for decommissioning and placing in reserve as December 1946
  • Decommissioned 30 January 1947 at San Diego, CA and laid up in the Pacific Reserve Fleet, San Diego Group
  • Recommissioned 28 February 1952 at San Diego
  • Reclassified as a Fleet Minesweeper (Steel Hull), MSF-323, 7 February 1955
  • Decommissioned 29 August 1955 at Green Cove Springs, FL and laid up in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet, Florida Group
  • Conversion to a Coastal Minelayer began 1 December 1959 at Charleston Naval Shipyard, Charleston, SC
  • Reclassified MMC-3, 4 December 1959
  • Conversion completed 8 January 1961
  • Transferred to Norway 27 January 1961 and renamed Brage (N 49)
  • Struck from the Naval Register 1 March 1961
  • Scrapped in 1978.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 890 t.
  • Length 221' 2"
  • Beam 32' 2"
  • Draft 10' 9"
  • Speed 18.1 kts.
  • Complement 105
  • Armament: One 3"/50 dual purpose gun mount, two twin 40mm gun mounts, two 20mm gun mounts, two depth charge tracks, and five depth charge projectors
  • Propulsion: Two 1,766shp General Motors 12-278 diesel electric drive engines, Farrel-Birmingham single reduction gear, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    USS Triumph (AM 323)
    Triumph 243k Wearing camouflage 32/1M on 14 February 1944, in Puget Sound. The colors are dull black, ocean gray and light gray
    National Archives photo 19-LCM-AM323-1    		 Ships of the U.S. Navy in WWII “Dazzle” Camouflage
    Triumph 354k c. 1952
    Havana, Cuba
    Photo from the Wright Langley Collection courtesy of Florida Keys Public Libraries    		 Robert Hurst
    USS Triumph (MSF 323)
    Triumph 61k Joe Radigan
    Brage (N 49)
    Triumph 108k 6 March 1961
    Soon after her transfer to Norway
    U.S. Navy photo NH 96869    		 Naval Historical Center
    Triumph 206k c. 1966
    Photo courtesy of Mr Godfrey H. Walker, Esq. from the 1966/1967 edition of Jane's Fighting Ships    		 Robert Hurst
    Triumph 70k c. 1968
    Triumph 47k
    Commanding Officers
    01CDR Carl Robert Cunningham, Jr., USNR3 February 1944 - 28 February 1945
    02LT William Thomas Bell, USNR28 February 1945 - 10 November 1945
    03LT Charles Lewis MacDonald, USNR10 November 1945
    04LT James Nelson Thompson, USNR28 January 1946
    05LCDR Russell Oswald Merrill, USN11 March 1946 - 30 January 1947
    06LCDR Charles M. Kirkham, USNR1953
    Courtesy of Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves and R. A. Moody
    View the Triumph (MMC 3)
    DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Website
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