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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

USS Devastator (MSF 318)
ex-USS Devastator (AM 318)



Call sign:
November - Charlie - Juliet - November

ex-HMS Augusta (BAM 5)


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

  • Laid down 15 December 1942 as HMS Augusta (BAM 5) by the General Engineering and Dry Dock Co., Alameda, CA
  • Launched 19 April 1943
  • Renamed and reclassified Devastator (AM-318) 23 January 1943
  • Commissioned USS Devastator (AM-318), 12 January 1944
    Naval Vessel Register of 1 January 1949 lists plan for decommissioning and placing in reserve as December 1946
  • Decommissioned 30 January 1947 at San Diego, CA
  • Recommissioned 26 February 1952
  • Reclassified as a Fleet Minesweeper (Steel Hull), MSF-318, 7 February 1955
  • Placed out of commission, in reserve, 15 April 1955 and laid up in the Reserve Fleet
  • Sold to Mexico in 1973 and renamed ARM Sabastian Lerdo de Tejada (C-74)
  • Reclassified G-06
  • 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 twin 40mm gun mounts, two 20mm gun mounts, two depth charge tracks, and five depth charge projectors
  • Propulsion: Two 1,988shp Baldwin VO8 diesel electric drive engines, Westinghouse single reduction gear, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Devastator 82k Richard Miller, BMCS, USNR, Ret.
    Devastator 184k Photographed circa 1952, shortly after she was recommissioned for Korean War service
    U.S. Navy photo NH 96911    		 Naval Historical Center
    Competent 303k 29 February 1952
    Long Beach, CA
    Recommissioning of Competent (AM 316), Gladiator (AM 319) and Devastator    		 Ron Reeves
    Competent 248k
    Competent 790k Long Beach Press-Telegram article dated 29 February 1952
    Defense 73k 8 October 1952. Laertes (AR-20) at Sasebo, Japan with nine minesweepers and a harbor tug alongside. Ships nested from left to right are: Impeccable (AM-320); Gladiator (AM-319); Shoveler (AM-382); Defense (AM-317); Devastator; Laertes; Condor (AMS-5); Kite (AMS-22); Curlew (AMS-8); Chatterer (AMS-40) and Wallacut (YTB-420)
    National Archives photo 80-G-63229    		 Naval Historical Center
    Commanding Officers
    01LCDR Robert Charles Gloss, USNR12 January 1944 - 18 June 1944
    02LT William Francis Remington, USNR18 June 1944 - 13 August 1945
    03LT Sanford Elvis Thal, USNR13 August 1945
    04LT John Isadore Lynch, USN27 March 1946 - 30 January 1947
    05LCDR James Edward Murphy, USN29 February 1952 - 15 May 1954
    06LCDR Fred Herbert Larsen, USNR15 May 1954 - 15 April 1955
    Courtesy of Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves and R. A. Moody
    View the Devastator (MSF-318)
    DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Website
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