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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Pilot (MSF 104)
ex-AM-104



Call sign:
November - Alpha - Quebec - Quebec


Pilot served the Navies of the United States and Mexico.
Auk Class Minesweeper:

  • Laid down 27 October 1941 by Pennsylvania Shipyards Inc., Beaumont, TX
  • Launched 5 July 1942
  • Commissioned USS Pilot (AM 104), 3 February 1943
  • Decommissioned 15 January 1947
    Naval Vessel Register of 1 January 1949 lists out of commission, in reserve as December 1945
  • Recommissioned 5 March 1952
  • Decommissioned in October 1954
  • Reclassified as a Fleet Minesweeper (Steel Hull), MSF-104, 7 February 1955
  • Struck from the Naval Register 1 July 1972
  • Transferred to Mexico 19 July 1972
  • Reclassified as a Patrol Craft and renamed ARM Juan Aldarma (C 85)
  • Reclassified G-18
  • Fate unknown.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 890 t.
  • Length 221' 2"
  • Beam 32'
  • Draft 10' 9"
  • Speed 18.1 kts.
  • Complement 105
  • Armament: One 3"/50 dual purpose gun mount, two 40mm gun mounts, two 20mm gun mounts, two depth charge tracks and five depth charge projectors
  • Propulsion: Two 1,559shp Busch Sulzer 539 diesel electric engines, Westinghouse reduction gear, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    USS Pilot (AM 104)
    Pilot 57k AM-104 Howard J. Koch
    USS Pilot (MSF 104)
    Pilot 95k Underway in Valletta Harbor, Malta
    Photo by A. & J. Pavia from the 1959/1960 edition of Jane's Fighting Ships    		 Robert Hurst
    Commanding Officers
    01LCDR Sherman Bruce Wetmore, USNR - Retired as Rear Admiral3 February 1943 - 1 May 1944
    02LT Ray E. Oliver, USN1 May 1944 - 1 June 1944
    03LCDR Sherman Bruce Wetmore, USNR1 June 1944 - 27 June 1944
    04LT Edward Paul Dietrich, USN27 June 1944
    05LT William Albert Semmes, USN9 November 1945
    06LT Frank Albert Besse, II, USNR10 January 1946
    07LT Jack Donald Hawkins, USNR - (Executive Officer in temporary command)15 January 1946
    08LT Frank Albert Besse, II, USNR25 January 1946
    09LT Jack Donald Hawkins, USNR12 March 1946
    10LTJG Allen David Day, USNR10 April 1946
    11LT John Paul McFadden, USNR9 June 1946 - 15 January 1947
    ??LCDR Edward Albert Short, USN1954 - October 1954
    Courtesy of Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves
    View the Pilot (MSF 104)
    DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Website
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    Naval Minewarfare Association
    Association of Minemen
    Back To The Main Photo Index Back to the Mine Warfare Ship Photo Index Back to the Fleet Minesweeper (MSF) Photo Index
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