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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Woodcock (AT[O] 145)



Call sign:
Nan - Fox - Xray - Xray

ex-AT-145
ex-AM-14



Call sign (1939):
Negat - Int - King - Prep

ex-Minesweeper No. 14



Call sign (1919):
George - Sail - Fox - Jig
Lapwing Class Minesweeper:

  • Laid down 19 October 1917 by the Chester Shipbuilding Co., Chester, PA
  • Launched 12 May 1918
  • Commissioned USS Woodcock, Minesweeper No. 14, 19 February 1919
  • Reclassified AM-14, 17 July 1920
  • Decommissioned 5 May 1922 at Portsmouth Navy Yard, NH
  • Recommissioned 21 February 1924
  • Reclassified as a Fleet Tug, AT-145, 1 June 1942
  • Reclassified as a Fleet Tug (Old), AT(O)-145, 15 May 1944
  • Present in Tokyo Bay, Japan in September 1945 for the Japanese surrender ceremony
  • Decommissioned 30 September 1946 at Charleston, SC
  • Struck from the Navy Register 23 April 1947
  • Transferred to the Maritime Commission 4 August 1947
    Naval Vessel Register of 1 January 1949 lists plan for transfer to the War Shipping Administration as January 1948
  • Sold for scrap 19 December 1947 to the Potomac Shipwrecking Co., Inc. of Pope's Creek, MD.

    AM-14 Specifications:

  • Displacement 950 t.
    1944 - 1,350 t.
  • Length 187' 10"
  • Beam 35' 6'
  • Draft 9' 9"
    1944 - 13' 1"
  • Speed 14 kts.
  • Complement 85
    1944 - 75
  • Armament: Two 3" gun mounts
    1944 - Two 3"/50 cal. dual purpose mounts
  • Propulsion: Two Babcock and Wilcox boilers, one triple expansion reciprocating steam engine, one shaft
    1944 - Two Babcock and Wilcox header boilers, one 1,400shp Harlan and Hollingsworth 200psi saturated steam vertical triple expansion reciprocating engine.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    USS Woodcock (Minesweeper No. 14)
    Woodcock 64k
    Namesake:

    Woodcock - A game bird that frequents wooded areas

    		 Tommy Trampp
    Woodcock 110k While taking part in clearing the North Sea mine barrage, "The fleet put in (to) Stavanger, a bustling town in Norway, made prosperous by the war." (quoted from the original 1919 vintage caption). Woodcock is in the foreground. In the left background are (from front to rear): USS SC-356, USS SC-40, USS Eider (Minesweeper No. 17), USS Sanderling (Minesweeper No. 37) - probable identification, USS Auk (Minesweeper No. 38) and an unidentified minesweeper
    U. S. Navy photo from the Navy Recruitment Bureau, New York
    U.S. Navy photo NH 99789
    Unidentified minesweeper believed to be Tanager, Minesweeper No. 5
    ATCS Paul Tuck    		 Original photo: Jon Burdett
    Replacement photo: Naval Historical Center
    Teal 80k Photo from "Sweeping the North Sea Mine Barrage" by the U.S. Navy North Sea Minesweeping Detachment Joe Radigan
    Woodcock 92k
    Woodcock 288k
    Swallow/Woodcock/Eider/Teal 256k Celebrating the return of the Atlantic Fleet Mine-Sweeping Detachment return to U.S. on 24 November 1919, and being reviewed by Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels. Ships identifiable here include: USS Woodcock (AM-14), USS SC-164, USS Eider (AM-17), USS SC-40, USS Swallow (AM-4), USS Teal (AM-23)
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 45238    		 Mike Green
    USS Woodcock (AM 14)
    Lansdale 171k c. 1921
    Lansdale (DM 6) (still wearing her Destroyer hull number), steaming at high speed on two boilers, following conversion to a light minelayer. The Mine Force emblem is painted on her bow, and mines are resting on their tracks aft. Lansdale probably continued to wear her destroyer number for some years thereafter. Woodcock is partially visible in the right background
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 5124    		 Mike Green
    Woodcock 68k Brian Miller
    Woodcock 91k
    Woodcock 225k c. 1925
    Commanding Officer, LT Clyde C. Laws, USN    		 David Wright
    Woodcock 203k c. 1925
    Commanding Officer with supper
    Woodcock 271k c. 1925
    Ships cook
    Woodcock 155k c. 1920s
    Dress ship    		 David Wright
    Photo added 27 February 2022
    Woodcock 69k 15 June 1926
    80th Street Pier, New York City    		 Brian Miller
    Woodcock 79k Calvin Betterton, who served in Woodcock from 19 January 1933 to 15 October 1934 Sam Betterton
    Woodcock 71k
    Commanding Officers
    01LTJG Walter John Fanger, USN19 February 1919 - 7 March 1919
    02LT Harry A. Wentworth, USN - Awarded the Navy Cross (1919)
    Retired as Lieutenant    		1919
    03LTJG Frank T. Jurgensen, USN - Awarded the Navy Cross (1919)1919 - 29 August 1921
    04Chief Boatswain Franklin Earl Chester, USN29 August 1921 - 18 February 1922
    05LT Gustav Freudendorf, USNRF18 February 1922 - 5 May 1922
    06LT Clyde Charlie Laws, USN21 February 1924 - 1 July 1926
    07LT Christian Crone, USN1 July 1926 - 16 August 1930
    08LT Buell Fromer Brandt, USN16 August 1930 - 9 May 1933
    09LT Joseph Orpha Saurette, USN9 May 1933 - 12 May 1936
    10LT Robert Ira Franklin Fravel, USN12 May 1936 - 31 January 1939
    11LCDR Paul Eugene Howard, USN31 January 1939 - 12 July 1941
    12LT Jerence Warner Greene, USN12 July 1941 - September 1942
    13LT Benjamin P. Clark, USCG - USCGA Class of 1938
    Awarded the Coast Guard Commendation Ribbon    		September 1942
    14LCDR Frank Stanley Dowd, USNR22 December 1942 - 1 June 1943
    15LT Robert Herbert Teter, USNR1 June 1943 - 17 April 1944
    16LT William Henry Stewart, USNR17 April 1944 - 21 June 1945
    17LTJG Matt Thomas Kershall, USNR21 June 1945 - 30 September 1946
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves and Joe Radigan
    View the Woodcock (AM 14)
    DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Website
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    National Association of Fleet Tug Sailors
    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 Fleet Tug (AT) Photo IndexBack to the Fleet Tug (Old) - (AT[O]) Photo Index
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    This page created and maintained by Joseph M. Radigan (of blessed memory) & David Wright
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