Please report any broken links or trouble you might come across to the Webmaster Please take a moment to let us know so that we can correct any problems and make your visit as enjoyable and as informative as possible.

NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

USCGC Tanager (WTR 885)



WTR-885 call sign:
November - Golf - Sierra - Sierra

ex-USS Tanager (MSF 385)
ex-AM-385



MSF-385 call sign:
November - India - Golf - Alpha


Tanager served the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard
Auk Class Minesweeper:

  • Built by American Shipbuilding Co., Lorain, OH (YN 854)
  • Laid down, 29 March 1944
  • Launched, 9 December 1944
  • Sponsored by Mrs. Thomas Slingluff
  • Commissioned USS Tanager (AM-385), 28 July 1945
  • Decommissioned at Orange, TX, 10 December 1954
  • Laid up in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet, Orange Group
  • Reclassified as a Fleet Minesweeper (Steel Hull), MSF-385, 07 February 1955
  • Transferred to the Coast Guard, 04 October 1963
  • Commissioned USCGC Tanager (WTR 885), 16 July 1964
  • Conducted training operations at Reserve Training Center at Yorktown, VA, 06 August 1964 - 22 October 1969
  • Decommissioned 01 February 1972
  • Sold to William A. Hardesty of Seattle, Washington, 15 November 1972
  • Part of the 1995 movie "The Usual Suspects" was filmed on board Tanager
  • Fate unknown

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 890 t.
  • Length 221' 1"
  • Beam 32' 2"
  • Draft 10' 9"
  • Speed 18.1 kts.
  • Complement 117
    1963 - 39
    1969 - 22
  • Armament: One 3"/50 dual purpose gun mount, two 40mm gun mounts, six 20mm gun mounts, one depth charge thrower (hedgehogs), four depth charge projectors (K-guns) and two depth charge tracks
  • Propulsion: Two 1,766shp General Motors 12-278A diesel electric drive engines, Westinghouse single reduction gear, two shafts.
    , moored at Marseille, France, circa 1953.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Namesake
    Tanager 60k Namesake: Tanager - Any of the numerous American, passerine birds. The brightly colored males are unmusical and inhabit woodlands Tommy Trampp
    USS Tanager (AM 385)
    Tanager 33k
    Tanager 95k Underway, circa 1946-1947
    Courtesy of the U.S. Naval Institute Photo Collection
    U.S. Navy photo NH 107427    		 Naval History and Heritage Command
    Tanager 14k Left to right: Staff (AM-114), Towhee (AM-388), Tanager and Tercel (AM-386)Bob Gerety, crewmember
    Bob's Minesweeper Site
    USCGC Tanager (WTR 885)
    Tanager
    110238508    		 88k Tanager moored alongside Unimak (WAVP-379), probably on Chesapeake Bay, circa 1965. Dave Wright
    Tanager 18k . Ken Laesser
    Tanager 59k . Robert Hurst
    Tanager 193k c. 1970
    U.S. Coast Guard photo
    Tanager
    Tanager 102k 31 August 2007
    Port of Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico    		 Bob Gerety, crewmember
    Bob's Minesweeper Site
    Commanding Officers
    01LCDR Oscar Berndherd Lundgren, USNR - Awarded the Silver Star (1950)28 July 1945 - 4 October 1945
    02LCDR Stanley Owen Davis, USNR/USN4 October 1945 - August 1946
    03LTJG Merton Dick Van Orden, USN - USNA Class of 194510 January 1947 - 12 February 1947
    04LT Cornelius Emmett McMullen, USN - Awarded the Silver Star (1950)12 February 1947 - 15 March 1947
    05LCDR Robert Judson Sammons, USN - USNA Class of 194315 March 1947 - 10 June 1948
    06LTJG Charles Philip Miller, USN10 June 1948 - 15 January 1949
    07LTJG Wyatt Eugene Harper, Jr., USN - USNA Class of 194315 January 1949 - April 1949
    08LCDR William Hughlett Hardcastle, Jr., USN - USNA Class of 1945April 1949 - January 1950
    09LT John Anthony McTighe, USN - USNA Class of 1943January 1950 - 10 October 1950
    10LTJG Harry Russell Moore, USN10 October 1950
    11LT John Anthony McTighe, USN - USNA Class of 194320 October 1950
    12LT Walter Henry Weible, USN1951
    13LT Horace Lowell Barnes, USN1953 - 10 December 1954
    Commanding Officers
    01LCDR Robert G. Elm, USCG16 July 1964
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves, R. A. Moody, Stanley Owen Davis, Jr. and Joe Radigan
    View the Tanager (MSF-385)
    DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Website
    Additional Resources and Websites of Interest
    Bob's Minesweeper Site
    Back to the Main Photo Index Back to the Mine Warfare Ship Photo Index Back to the Fleet Minesweeper (MSF) Photo Index
    Comments, Suggestions, E-mail Webmaster
    This page was created by Gary P. Priolo & maintained by Joseph M. Radigan (of blessed memory) & David L. Wright
    All Pages © 1996 - 2024, NavSource History, All rights reserved.
    Last Updated 17 March 2024