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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

USS Planter (ACM 2)



Call sign:
Nan - Peter - Xray - Xray

ex-USAMP Colonel George Ricker (MP 16)


Planter served both the US Army and Navy
Chimo Class Auxiliary Minelayer:

  • The second Planter was laid down in April 1941 for the U.S. Army Coast Artillery Corps, Mine Planter Service as USAMP Colonel George Ricker (MP 16) by the Marietta Manufacturing Co., Point
    Pleasant, WV
  • Delivered 6 May 1943
  • Acquired by the Navy 4 April 1944 and commissioned USS Planter (ACM 2) the same day
  • Converted to a Minesweep Gear and Repair Ship
  • Decommissioned 22 May 1946
  • Struck from the Naval Register 23 December 1947
  • Transferred to the Maritime Commission 9 April 1948
  • Sold in 1962 to Foss Launch and Tug Co. of Oakland, CA
  • Sold in 1963 to MV San Juan, Inc. of San Juan, Puerto Rico for use as a fishing boat and renamed San Juan
  • Sold in 1977 to Bumble Bee Samoa, Inc. of Old San Juan, Puerto Rico
  • Acquired in 1979 by the Frabel Fishing Corp. under Philippine flag
  • Fate unknown.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 1,300 t.
  • Length 188' 2"
  • Beam 37'
  • Draft 12' 6"
  • Speed 12.5 kts.
  • Complement 69
  • Armament: One 40mm gun mount and four 20mm mounts
  • Propulsion: Two Combustion Engineering header type boilers, two 1,200shp Skinner Unaflow reciprocating engines, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    USAMP Colonel George Ricker (MP 16)
    Planter 105k
    Namesake:

    George Worcester Ricker
    6 November 1892 - 12 December 1941

    Arlington National Cemetery Arlington, Virginia

    		 Tommy Trampp
    Photo added 24 September 2021
    Planter 64k Tommy Trampp
    ACM 272k c. May 1943
    U.S. Army Signal Corps photo    		 Bill Gonyo
    USS Planter (ACM 2)
    Planter 297k c. April 1946
    San Francisco Bay, CA
    Courtesy of D. M. McPherson, 1974
    U.S. Navy photo NH 79551    		 Naval History and Heritage Command
    Commanding Officers
    01LT Theodore Thomas Scudder, Jr., USNR4 April 1944 - 6 September 1944
    02LT Richard Albert Knapp, USN6 September 1944 - 15 September 1945
    03LT Charles David Bier, USN15 September 1945 - 22 May 1946
    Courtesy of Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves and Bill Gonyo
    View the Planter (ACM 2)
    DANFS history entry located on the Naval History and Heritage Command website
    Back to the Main Photo Index Back to the Mine Warfare Ship Photo Index Back to the Auxiliary Minelayer (ACM) Photo Index Back to the U.S. Army Mine Planter Photo Index
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    This page created and maintained by Joseph M. Radigan (of blessed memory) & & David Wright
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