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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Owl (AT[O] 137)



Call sign:
Nan - Zebra - Roger - Dog

ex-AT-137
ex-AM-2



Call sign (1939):
Negat - Afirm - Cast - Baker

ex-Minesweeper No. 2



Call sign (1919):
George - Tare - Sail - Rush
Lapwing Class Minesweeper:

  • Laid down 25 October 1917 by the Todd Shipyard Co, New York, NY
  • Launched 4 March 1918
  • Commissioned USS Owl, Minesweeper No. 2, 11 July 1918
  • Designated AM-2, 17 July 1920
  • Reclassified as an Ocean Tug, AT-137, 1 June 1942
  • Reclassified as an Ocean Tug (Old), AT(O)-137, 15 May 1944
  • Decommissioned 26 July 1946 in the 13th Naval District (Puget Sound)
  • Struck from the Naval Register in 1946
  • Sold for scrap 27 June 1947 to Pacific Metal and Salvage Co. of Norland, WA
    Naval Vessel Register of 1 January 1949 lists plan for transfer to the War Shipping Administration as July 1947.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 950 t.
    1944 - 1,350 t.
  • Length 187' 10"
  • Beam 35' 6"
  • Draft 10' 3"
    1944 - 13' 1"
  • Speed 14 kts.
    1944 - 11.2 kts.
  • Complement 62
    1944 - 75
  • Armament: Two 3" guns and two machine guns
    1944 - Two 3"/50 dual purpose mounts and four 20mm mounts
  • Propulsion: Two Babcock and Wilcox boilers, triple expansion reciprocating steam engine, one shaft
    1944 - Two 200psi saturated steam Babcock and Wilcox header boilers, one 1,400shp Harlan and Hollingsworth vertical triple expansion reciprocating steam engine.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    USS Owl (AM 2)
    Owl 32k . Hyperwar U.S. Navy in World War II
    Owl 22k
    Owl 76k c. 1940 Robert Hurst
    USS Owl (AT 137)
    Owl 100k Off the Lamberts Point Docks, Norfolk, Va., on 1 January 1943. Unlike many of her sisters this ship did not have the original height of her smokestack reduced early in World War II
    National Archives photo 19-N-40506    		 Mike Green
    USS Owl (AT[O] 137)
    Owl 45k . Submitted by Craig Rothhammer to National Association of Fleet Tug Sailors
    Owl 117k Entering Cherbourg harbor, France, towing two barges loaded with engineer equipment, 18 July 1944. She was the first ship carrying supplies to enter Cherbourg harbor after its liberation from the Germans
    U.S. Army Signal Corps photo SC 193943 by Reshovsky from the Signal Corps collection in the National Archives. Naval History and Heritage
    Command photo    		 Robert Hurst
    Commanding Officers
    01LTGJ Charles Bradford Babson, USN11 July 1918 - 22 March 1919
    02LT Melvin Chase Kent, USN22 March 1919 - 6 June 1919
    03LTJG Alfred Doucet, USN6 June 1919
    04LT Raymond St.Clair Beckel, USN19 June 1925
    05LT Laurie Charles Parfitt, USN31 August 1925
    06LT Harry Le Roy Thompson, USN28 June 1929
    07LT Francis Dow Hamblin, USN1934
    08LCDR Clyde Charlie Laws, USN1936
    09LT Marshall Barton Gurney, USN1939
    10LCDR Charles G. Rucker, USN1940
    ??LT John Hugo Thomas, USNAugust 1944 - November 1945
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves
    View the Owl (AM-2)
    DANFS history entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway website
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    National Association of Fleet Tug Sailors
    Naval Minewarfare Association
    Association of Minemen
    Back To The Main Photo Index Back To the Mine Warfare Ship Photo Index Back to the Minesweeper (AM) Photo Index Back to the Auxiliary Ship Photo Index Back to the Fleet Ocean Tug (AT) Photo IndexBack to the Fleet Ocean Tug (Old) -
    (AT[O]) Photo Index
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