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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Thompson (DD-627)
ex-DMS-38
ex-DD-627



Call sign:
November - India - Xray - Papa
Gleaves Class Destroyer/Ellyson Class Highspeed Minesweeper:

  • Laid down 22 September 1941 by the Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corp., Seattle, WA
  • Launched, 15 July 1942
  • Commissioned USS Thompson (DD-627), 10 July 1943
  • Reclassified and converted to a High Speed Minesweeper, DMS-38, 30 May 1945
  • Placed in commission, in reserve in October 1953 at San Diego, CA
  • Starred as the Destroyer Minesweeper, USS Caine in the 1954 motion picture "The Caine Mutiny"
  • Decommissioned, 18 May 1954
  • Laid up in the Pacific Reserve Fleet at Bremerton, WA
  • Reclassified back to a Destroyer, DD-627, 15 July 1955
  • Struck from the Navy Register 1 July 1971
  • Sold for scrap 7 August 1972 to the American Ship Dismantlers, Inc. of Portland, Oregon.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 1,630 t.(lt), 2,200 t.(fl)
  • Length 347' 10"
  • Beam 36' 1"
  • Draft 15' 8"
  • Speed 37 kts.
  • Complement 272
  • Armament: Four 5"/38 dual purpose gun mounts, four 40mm mounts, five 20mm mounts, six depth charge projectors and two depth charge tracks
  • Propulsion: Four boilers, two steam turbines, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Thompson 81k Original photo: Thompson, shortly after her conversion to a fast assault minesweeper
    National Archives photo 19-N-85751
    Replacement photo: c. 1945
    Charleston, South Carolina
    Shortly after her conversion to a DMS. Note "seahorse" marking on No. 2 funnel
    National Archives photo 19-N-85751    		 Original photo: Naval Historical Center
    Replacement photo: Mike Green
    Thompson 70k Joe Henke
    Thompson 86k 4 July 1945
    Off Charleston Navy Yard
    National Archives photo BS 85753    		 Joe Radigan
    Thompson 82k Original photo: U.S. Navy photo from the November 1952 edition of All Hands magazine
    Replacement photo: 4 July 1945
    Charleston, SC
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo L45-279.07-01    		 Mike Green
    Thompson 240k U.S. Navy Yard, S.C., 4 July 1945
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo L45-279.07-02    		 Original photo: Joe Radigan
    Replacement photo: Mike Green
    YTL-592 53k 17 October 1946
    YTL-592 alongside Thompson at Navy Yard Mare Island.
    Navy Yard Mare Island photo 3636-46    		 Darryl Baker
    Thompson 142k Starboard view of Thompson at Mare Island on 12 July 1948
    U.S. Navy photo 1121-7-48
    Thompson 84k U.S. Navy photo from the January 1952 edition of All Hands magazine Joe Radigan
    Thompson 47k 11 February 1954
    Off San Francisco, CA    		 Robert Hurst
    Thompson 68k
    Thompson 70k Flying her "Homeward Bound" pennant which extends past Mount 53
    Photo courtesy of Ted Stone from the 1958/1959 edition of Jane's Fighting Ships
    Commanding Officers
    01LCDR Lee Adrian Ellis, USN - Awarded the Legion of Merit (1943)10 July 1943 - 4 December 1943
    02LT Donald George Wright, USN4 December 1943 - 10 December 1943
    03CDR Albert Lewis Gebelin, USN - USNA Class of 1934
    Awarded the Silver Star (1944) and the Bronze Star with Combat V (1953) - Retired as Captain    		10 December 1943 - 23 October 1944
    04CDR Royce Purinton Davis, USN23 October 1944 - 21 May 1945
    05LCDR Thomas Francis Saunders, Jr., USN21 May 1945
    06LCDR Carl Rogers Bower, USN1948 - 1949
    07CDR Louis Piollet Spear, USN1949 - 1950
    08CDR Walter Henry Barckmann, USN1950 - 1952
    Courtesy of Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves and Joe Radigan
    View the Thompson (DMS-38)
    DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Website
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    NavSource DD Pages, USS Thompson (DD-627)
    Back to the Main Photo Index Back To the Mine Warfare Ship Photo Index Back To The High Speed Minesweeper (DMS) Photo Index
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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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