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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Chaffinch (AM 81)

Call sign:
Nan - Uncle - Baker - Charlie

Goldcrest Class Minesweeper:

Laid down in 1928 as the steel hull fishing trawler M/V Trimount by the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corp., Quincy, MA for the Massachusetts Trawling Co., Boston, MA

Acquired by the Navy 27 November 1940

Began conversion to a minesweeper 29 November 1940 at the Bethlehem Steel Co., East Boston, MA

Renamed Chaffinch 17 December 1940

Commissioned USS Chaffinch (AM 81), 16 July 1941

On 19 September 1942, Chaffinch collided with and sank the British Minesweeper HMS Pentland Firth (FY 108) between Ambrose Lightship and Sandy Hook, NJ. HMS Pentland Firth was one of 24

converted British fishing trawlers that was sent over to the U. S. early in the war to help protect the U.S. shores

Decommissioned 12 December 1945 at Charleston, SC

Struck from the Naval Register 3 January 1946

Transferred to the Maritime Commission 23 September 1946

Transferred to The Netherlands in 1947

Returned to the United States, sold to the Silver Sea Co. of Boston and renamed Medan

Sold in 1965 to the Medan Fishing Corp. of Gloucester, MA

Sometime after 1969 she disappeared from the vessel registry

Fate unknown.

Specifications:

Displacement 400 t.

Length 122' 6"

Beam 23' 1"

Draft 10' 11"

Speed 10 kts.

Complement 36

Armament: One 3"/50 dual purpose gun mount

Propulsion: One 600shp Atlas 6H M3358 diesel engine, one shaft.

Click on thumbnail for full size image	Size	Image Description		Source
	42k	Namesake: *Chaffinch* - A European bird of the finch family		Tommy Trampp
	104k	Wintry World War II Photograph Courtesy of D.M. McPherson, 1976 U.S. Navy photo NH 84616		Naval History and Heritage Command

Commanding Officers
01	LT Edward Fluhr, USNR	16 July 1941
02	LT Paul James Williams, USNR - (Executive Officer in temporary command)	3 July 1942
03	LT Edward Fluhr, USNR	6 August 1942
04	LT Paul James Williams, USNR	5 September 1942
05	LT Walter Thomas Henrickson, USNR	15 September 1945 - 11 December 1945

Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler

View the Chaffinch (AM 81)
DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Website

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