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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Auk (MSF 57)
ex-AM-57



Call sign:
Nan - Able - Charlie - William
Auk Class Minesweeper:

  • The second Auk was laid down 15 April 1941 at Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, VA
  • Launched 26 August 1941
  • Commissioned USS Auk (AM-57), 15 January 1942
  • Decommissioned 15 July 1946 at San Diego, CA and laid up in the Pacific Reserve Fleet, San Diego Group
    Naval Vessel Register of 1 January 1949 lists decommissioning and placed in reserve date as December 1945
  • Reclassified as a Fleet Minesweeper (Steel-hulled), MSF-57, 7 March 1955
  • Struck from the Navy Register 1 August 1956
  • Fate unknown.

    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 single 40mm gun mounts, eight 20mm guns, two depth charge tracks and five depth charge projectors
  • Propulsion: Two 1,559shp ALCO 539 diesel electric engines, Westinghouse single reduction gear, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Auk (AM 57)
    Auk 30k
    Namesake:

    Auk - A diving bird native to the colder climates of the northern hemisphere

    		 Tommy Trampp
    Auk 89k Under construction at Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, VA
    U.S. Navy photo    		 Norfolk Navy Yard
    Auk 384k Anchor and Windlass Data Ed Zajkowski
    Auk 132k 26 August 1941
    Norfolk Navy Yard
    Sliding down the ways
    Norfolk Navy Yard photo 6-15    		 Bill Gonyo
    USS Auk (AM 57)
    Auk 71k 6 May 1942
    Off Norfolk Navy Yard in Measure 12 (modified) camouflage
    National Archives photo 19-N-30945 from the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships    		 Original photo: Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Vol 1, pg.482
    Replacement photo: Robert Hurst
    Auk 155k c. May 1942
    Off the Norfolk Navy Yard
    U.S. Navy photo NH 84027    		 Naval History and Heritage Command
    Photo added 28 August 2020
    Auk 155k 20 June 1943 Robert Hurst
    Commanding Officers
    01LCDR George Washington Allen, USN15 January 1942
    02LCDR William David Ryan, USN10 September 1942 - 28 February 1943
    03CDR Colby Guequierre Rucker, USN28 February 1943
    04LCDR Joseph Oliver Schwartz, USN11 March 1943
    05LT Daisy Louis Brantley, USN9 October 1943 - 4 November 1944
    06LT George G. Warren, USN4 November 1944
    07LCDR John Ulysses Nixon, USN1 May 1945
    08LT Larry S. Henderson, USNOctober 1945 - 1 July 1946
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves
    View the Auk (MSF-57)
    DANFS history entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway website
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