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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Avocet (AVP 4)

Call sign:
Nan - Able - Dog - Peter

ex-AM-19
ex-Minesweeper No. 19

Call sign (1919):
George - Tare - Rush - Pup

Lapwing Class Minesweeper:

Laid down 13 September1918 by Baltimore Dry Dock and Shipbuilding Co., Baltimore, MD

Launched 9 March 1918

Commissioned USS Avocet, Minesweeper No.19, 17 September 1918

Designated AM-19, 17 February 1920

Decommissioned 3 April 1922 at Cavite Navy Yard, Philippines

Recommissioned 8 September 1925 at Cavite

Reclassified as a Small Seaplane Tender, AVP-4, 22 January 1936

Decommissioned 10 December 1945

Sold for scrap 12 December 1946.

Specifications:

Displacement 950 t.

1936 - 1,350 t.

Length 187' 10"

Beam 35' 6'

Draft 9' 10"

1936 - 13' 1"

Speed 14 kts.

1936 - 13.5 kts.

Complement 78

1936 - 85

Armament: Two 3" gun mounts and machine guns

1936 - Two 3"/50 dual purpose mounts

1944 - One 3"/50 dual Purpose mount and two 20mm mounts

Propulsion: Two Babcock and Wilcox boilers, triple expansion reciprocating steam engine, one shaft

1936 - Two Babcock and Wilcox 200psi header boilers, one 1,400shp Baltimore Dry Dock and Shipbuilding Co. 200psi saturated steam vertical triple expansion reciprocating engine.

Click on thumbnail for full size image	Size	Image Description	Source
USS Avocet (AM 19)
	94k	c. July/August 1921 USS California (BB 44) and Avocet in the Mare Island Channel.	Darryl Baker
	85k	10 August 1921 Commissioning ceremony aboard USS California (BB 44) at Mare Island Navy Yard. Avocet is alongside the California's port side. U.S. Navy photo 6627	Darryl Baker
	106k	Avocet after being blown onto a sand bar at Chefoo, China by a typhoon on 26 August 1928. She is carrying a Martin T3M-2 torpedo plane of Torpedo Squadron VT-5A. USS Jason (AC-12), also serving as an aircraft tender, is in the distance. U.S. Marine Corps Museum photo, Jack A. Wagner collection, from copy at the Naval History and Heritage Command	Robert Hurst
USS Avocet (AVP 4)
	260k	Stamped on back of photo "Our Navy" U.S. Navy photo 1 Hanson Place Brooklyn 17 Navy York	Tommy Trampp
	510k	Deck Logs for 6 December 1941	Eric Watson
	335k	7 December 1941 Position of Avocet and other ships at Pearl Harbor. Map courtesy of National Geographic Book Division	Joe Radigan
	665k	Deck Logs for 7 December 1941	Eric Watson
	262k	Deck Logs for 7 December 1941	Eric Watson
	94k	Avocet at Berth Fox-1A, at Ford Island, prior to 1045 hrs. on 7 December, when she moved to avoid oil fires drifting southward along the shore of Ford Island. U.S. Navy photo 80-G-32669	Naval Historical Center
	102k	Avocet in foreground with Nevada (BB-36) in background, headed down channel after being intensely attacked by Japanese dive bombers. Photographed from Ford Island U.S. Navy photo NH 97396
	83k	Gunners on board Avocet look for more Japanese planes, at about the time the air raid ended. Photographed from atop a building at Naval Air Station Ford Island, looking toward the Navy Yard. Nevada (BB-36) is at right, with her bow afire. Beyond her is the burning Shaw (DD-373). Smoke at left comes from the destroyers Cassin (DD-372) and Downes (DD-375), ablaze in Drydock Number One. U.S. Navy photo 80-G-32445
	143k	7 December 1941 Unidentified ships are visible, as well as a B-17 flying over the mountains in the background U.S. Navy and Marine Corps Museum/Naval Aviation Museum, photo No. 1996.488.029.016	Mike Green
	428k	Deck Logs for 8 December 1941	Eric Watson
	127k	Avocet in Elliott Bay, Seattle, Washington, on 1 March 1944. Her single 3"/50 gun is mounted in the original large tub that previously held two of these weapons National Archives photo 19-N-63708	Mike Green

Commanding Officers
01	LT Christian Crone, USN	17 September 1918 - 1920
02	LT Colin Campbell, USN	1920
03	LCDR Grady Baskin Whitehead, USN	8 September 1925
04	LT George Alfred Ott, USN	1926
05	LT Frederick Stacer Holmes, USN	17 January 1926
05	LT Homer Franklin McGee, USN	1928
05	LT George Francis Mentz, USN	1931 - 1932
06	LCDR Frederick Sears Conner, USN	1932
07	LT Laurence Francis Blodgett, USN	1934
08	LT Thomas Binney Williamson, USN - Retired as Vice Admiral	1936
09	LCDR Joseph Malcolm Carson, USN - USNA Class of 1925 Awarded the Navy Cross, Legion of Merit w/Combat V and Bronze Star w/Combat V - Retired as Rear Admiral	June 1938 - July 1940
10	LT Robert Ellington Dixon, USN - Awarded two Navy Crosses (1942) Retired as Rear Admiral	July 1940 - July 1941
11	LCDR William Crawford Jonson, Jr., USN	July 1941 - 19 August 1943
12	LT Gus Otis Davis, USNR	19 August 1942 - April 1943
13	LT George F. Keene, USN	April 1943 - 31 November 1943


Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves

View the Avocet (AM-19)
DANFS history entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway website

Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
Report of Offensive Measures Taken During December 7th

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This page created by Gary P. Priolo and maintained by Joe Radigan

NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Avocet (AVP 4)

ex-AM-19ex-Minesweeper No. 19

ex-AM-19
ex-Minesweeper No. 19