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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Finch (AM 9)



Call sign (1939):
Negat - Afirm - Jig - Prep

ex-Minesweeper No. 9



Call sign (1919):
George - Tare - Sail - Have


Finch served the Navies of the United States and Imperial Japan.

Abandoned 10 April 1942 and sunk 12 January 1945

Lapwing Class Minesweeper:

  • Laid down 22 August 1917 by the Standard Shipbuilding Co., New York, NY
  • Launched 30 March 1918
  • Commissioned USS Finch, Minesweeper No. 9, 10 September 1918
  • Designated AM-9, 17 July 1920
  • Placed in reduced commission 1 March 1929 at San Pedro, CA
  • Placed in full commission 29 August 1929
  • Damaged 9 April 1942 by near miss from Japanese bomb at Corregidor, Philippines
  • Abandoned to sink 10 April 1942
  • Struck from the Navy Register 8 May 1942
  • Salvaged by the Japanese and renamed IJN Patrol Boat No. 103
  • Sunk 12 January 1945 off Cape Padaran, Indochina by aircraft from Vice Admiral John S. McCain's Task Force 38.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 950 t.
  • Length 187' 10"
  • Beam 35' 6"
  • Draft 9' 10"
  • Speed 14 kts.
  • Complement 72
  • Armament: Two 3" gun mounts
  • Propulsion: Two Babcock and Wilcox boilers, one triple expansion reciprocating steam engine, one shaft.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    USS Finch (Minesweeper No. 9)
    Finch 61k Namesake: Finch - A family of small or moderate-sized singing birds Tommy Trampp
    Finch 247k Photo from "Sweeping the North Sea Mine Barrage" by the U.S. Navy North Sea Minesweeping Detachment Joe Radigan
    Finch 129k U. S. Navy photo Jim Kurrasch, Battleship Iowa, Pacific Battleship Center
    USS Finch (AM 9)
    Finch 62k From inside a motor whale boat approaching Finch Van Barbre
    via
    John Barbre
    Finch 76k
    Finch 76k U. S. Navy photo from the Navy Recruitment Bureau, New York Jon Burdett
    Finch 136k U. S. Navy photo Jim Kurrasch, Battleship Iowa, Pacific Battleship Center
    Finch 240k c. Early 1920s
    Mare Island Channel
    U. S. Navy photos    		 Darryl Baker
    Finch 326k
    Finch 118k Finch and Bittern (AM 36) in Manila Bay, Philippines
    Photo from the collection of Chief Walter E. Pegg
    Photo added 15 March 2020    		 Jay Milewski
    Hart 308k c. 1923/1924
    Hong Kong, China
    American Man of War in Hong Kong Harbor. Identified ships are: Huron (CA 9), Helena (PG 9), Sacramento (PG 19), Asheville (PG 21), Black Hawk (AD 9),
    Hart (DM 8), Rizal (DM 14), Hulbert (DD 342), Noa (DD 343), William B. Preston (DD 344), Preble (DD 345)    , later DM-20; Sicard (DD 346), later DM -21; Pruitt (DD 347), later DM-22; Finch (AM 9), Bittern (AM 36) and SS President Jackson
    Photo by A. Fong
    Photo from the collection of Chief Walter E. Pegg
    Finch 152k c. 1934
    Chefoo, China
    Finch and Bittern (AM 36) tied up alongside Black Hawk AD-9
    Photo from the collection of Chief Walter E. Pegg
    Photos added 15 March 2020
    Finch 83k 10 January 1939
    Tsingtao Harbor, China    		 James D. McGrew
    Finch/Pigeon 16k 1 October 1939
    Finch towing Pigeon (ASR 6) free after she had run aground. Photo taken from the deck of the Augusta [CL 31]
    Commanding Officers
    01LT John Conrad Lindberg, USN10 September 1918
    02LT Karl Rundquist, USN - Awarded the Navy Cross (1919)30 October 1918
    03LTJG Gustav Adolf Curt Leutritz, USN - Awarded the Navy Cross (1919)1 May 1919
    04LT John Russell McMeekin, USN22 March 1921 - 10 April 1922
    05LTJG William Hartenstein, USN20 July 1921
    06LCDR Benjamin Perlman, USN13 September 1922
    07LT Laurence Frye Safford, USN13 October 1923 - 1 May 1924
    08LCDR Philip Williamson Yeatman, USN1 May 1924
    09LCDR Alan Withers Ashrook, USN4 October 1927 - 15 December 1928
    10LT John Walton Rogers, USN15 December 1928
    11LT Harry Arthur Rochester, USN21 May 1929
    12LCDR Walter Lucian Taylor, USN28 August 1930 - 1932
    13LT Joseph Francis Dahlgren, USN3 June 1933
    14LCDR Hyman George Rickover, USN - USNA Class of 1922
    Awarded three Navy Distinguished Service Medals - Retired as Admiral    		13 April 1935
    15LT Joyce Allen Ralph, USN14 August 1937
    16LT Benjamin May, II, USN18 September 1938 - 9 July 1939
    17LT Thurlow Weed Davison, USN9 July 1939
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves and Joe Radigan
    View the Finch (AM 9)
    DANFS history entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway website
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