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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

USCGC Menemsha (WAG-274)
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 USS Menemsha (AG-39) (1941 - 1943)

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Precedence of awards is from left to right
American Campaign Medal - World War II Victory Medal

USS Menemsha (AG-39) was manned by the US Coast Guard during World War II
Steel-hulled cargo ship:
  • Built in 1918 as SS Lake Orange at McDougall-Duluth Co., Duluth, MN.
  • Acquired by the Buffalo Steamship Corp, Buffalo, N.Y, renamed John Gehm
  • Acquired by the Maritime Commission from her owners, Bison Steamship Corp., in 1941
  • Acquired by the Navy 19 September 1941
  • Renamed Menemsha (AG-39), 15 October 1941
  • Converted for Naval service as a weather patrol ship at Maryland Drydock Co., Baltimore, MD.
  • Commissioned USS Menemsha (AG-39), under loan to the U.S. Coast Guard, 20 January 1942
  • Decommissioned, date unknown
  • Transferred to the US Coast Guard, re-commissioned USCGC Menemsha (WAG-274), 22 October 1943
  • Struck from the Naval Register, 30 October 1943
  • Decommissioned by the Coast Guard, 24 September 1945
  • Laid up, 30 August 1946, in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, James River Group, Lee Hall, VA.
  • Final Disposition, sold for scrapping, 21 March 1951, to Patapsco Scrap Co.
    Specifications:
    Displacement 2,580 t.
    Length 261'
    Beam 43' 6"
    Draft 20' 3"
    Speed 10 kts.
    Compliment 58
    Armament
    one single 4"/50 gun mount
    four single .30 cal. machine guns
    two depth charge projectors
    Propulsion
    one triple expansion reciprocating steam engine
    single propeller, 1,200shp

    i>US Navy photo # 2611 (42)
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		Size Image Description Source
    USS Menemsha (AG-39)
    BB-40 New Mexico 783k USS Menemsha (AG-39) being assisted out of her berth by the harbor tug YT-213 at Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, VA., 31 December 1941. In the foreground is the battleship USS New Mexico (BB-40) Across the pier from Menemsha is the new destroyer USS O'Brien (DD-415). She would be torpedoed by the Japanese submarine IJNS I-15 on 15 September 1942 and sank 19 October 1942 while en route to Pearl Harbor for repairs. Pieter Bakels
    Menemsha 18k USS Menemsha (AG-39) underway, 22 January 1942. Gunter Krebs
    USCGC Menemsha (WAG-274)
    Menemsha 144k USCGC Menemsha (WAG-274) at the Coast Guard Yard, Curtis Bay, MD., 29 October 1943, for conversion to an Armed Guard training ship one week after her transfer from the Navy
    US Coast Guard Historian's Office photo # unknown.    		 Robert Hurst
    Menemsha
    26-G-21003    		 143k USCGC Menemsha (WAG-274) underway, 13 January 1944, after completing her conversion to an Armed Guard training ship. Unlike her sister converted earlier at the same yard, this vessel retained her original bulwarks with large limber holes in her well decks.
    US Coast Guard Historian's Office photos # (at NARA) 26-G-21003 and unknown.    		 Robert Hurst
    Menemsha
    Unknown    		 132k
    View the USS Menemsha (AG-39)
    DANFS     history entry located at the US Naval History and Heritage Command
    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation - Navy Log
    Fleet Reserve Association
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office - Menemsha (AG-39) (WAG-274)
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    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
    © 2005 Gary P. Priolo © 1996 - 2009 NavSource Naval History. All Rights Reserved.
    Last Updated 22 January 2010