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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Pelican (AVP 6)

Call sign:
Nan - Easy - Fox - King

ex-AM-27
ex-Minesweeper No. 27

Call sign (1919):
George - Tare - Sail - Watch

Lapwing Class Minesweeper:

Laid down 10 November 1917 by the Gas Engine and Power Co., Morris Height, NY

Launched 15 June 1918

Commissioned USS Pelican, Minesweeper No.27, 10 October 1918

Designated AM-27, 17 February 1920

Decommissioned 3 May 1922 at Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii

Recommissioned, 17 August 1922 and modified to serve as an aircraft tender

Reclassified as a Small Seaplane Tender, AVP-6, 22 January 1936

Disguised as a tuna clipper under the name Normandie II and operated as a Q-ship from 26 May 1942 to 16 April 1943

Decommissioned 30 November 1945

Struck from the Naval Register 19 December 1945

Transferred to the War Shipping Administration in November 1946 and sold for scrap.

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"

Complement 78

1936 - 85

Armament: Two 3" gun mounts and machine guns

1936 - Two 3"/50 dual purpose mounts

Propulsion: Two Babcock and Wilcox header boilers, one 1,400shp Harlan and Hollingsworth 200psi saturated steam vertical triple expansion reciprocating engine, one shaft.

Click on thumbnail for full size image	Size	Image Description	Source
USS Pelican (Minesweeper No. 27)
	58k	Photos from "Sweeping the North Sea Mine Barrage" by the U.S. Navy North Sea Minesweeping Detachment	Joe Radigan
	56k
	230k
	119k
	91k
	172k
	68k
	312k
USS Pelican (AM 27)
	1268k	Photo of George McHugh from the 5 August 1898 edition of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Brooklyn, NY	Liz Haren, Great Niece of George McHugh
	862k	28 February 1920. 1920 Census report.	Liz Haren, Great Niece of George McHugh
	121k	Minesweepers laid up at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Territory. View taken circa 1922 or somewhat later, showing several minesweepers laid up in reserve at the end of 1010 Dock. Identifiable ships at left include USS Oriole (AM-7), with USS Pigeon (AM-47) inboard of her. Pelican is the outboard ship in the center U.S. Navy photo NH 45242-A	Naval Historical Center
	142k	Minesweepers laid up at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Territory. View taken circa 1922 or somewhat later, showing several minesweepers laid up in reserve at the end of 1010 Dock. Identifiable ships at left include USS Oriole (AM-7) outboard, with USS Pigeon (AM-47) inboard of her. Pelican is the outboard ship in the center U.S. Navy photo NH 45243-A	Naval Historical Center
	161k	Pelican supporting two probable Curtiss HS-1L aircraft near Pearl Harbor in February 1924 National Archives photo 80-G-1009755	Mike Green
	2082k	A PN-9 flying boat and the minesweeper Pelican circa 1925 . The fabric from the plane's lower wings has been torn away for use by its crew to sail the aircraft in the Pacific Ocean. The plane had been forced down while en route to Hawaii from California and is in the process of being craned aboard the Pelican U.S. Navy and Marine Corps Museum/Naval Aviation Museum, Photo 2012.004.082	Mike Green
USS Pelican (AVP 6)
	106k	Seen here tending seaplanes, c. August 1922 to 21 January 1936. Still wearing her minesweeper hull number (27) U.S. Navy photo	Hazegray & Underway Web Site
	44k	c. 1936. Hawaii Photo by Edward Cwalinski, U.S. Army, Ret.	Barry Litchfield
	172k	Pelican underway off the southern California coast between May 1942 and April 1943 after conversion to the "tuna boat" Q-ship Normandie II. In April 1942 she received structural modifications at the Mare Island Navy yard that included raised bulwarks around the bow, a new foremast just forward of the bridge, and an extra cabin behind the bridge. Her disguise was then completed by covering over her two 3" guns forward, building a "bait tank" on the fantail that actually housed a Curtiss SOC Seagull floatplane, adding a crow's nest on the mainmast, and fitting prominent tuna boat ratlines on both masts Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 96553	Mike Green
	100k	c. 1945 Off Key West, FL	Jim Geldert
	41k
	89k

Commanding Officers
01	LT George E. McHugh, USN - Awarded the Navy Cross (1920)	10 October 1918
02	LTJG Edward Burke Peterson, USN	1 July 1920
03	LT Edward Danielson, USN	17 August 1922 - 23 November 1922
04	LT Doile Greenwell, USN	23 November 1922
05	LT William Reginald Spear, USN	15 October 1929
06	LT Robert Stevens Savin, USN	1932
07	LCDR Aaron Putnam Storrs, III, USN - USNA Class of 1923 Retired as Rear Admiral	November 1935 - July 1937
08	LT Carl Hawkinsmith Barnes Morrison, USN	1938 - June 1939
09	LT Howell Jesse Dyson, USN	June 1939 - June 1941
10	LT Willard Arthur Saunders, USN	1940 - 1941
11	LCDR John Clement Alderman, USN	June 1941 - August 1942
12	CDR Curtis Howell Hutchings, USN - Retired as Rear Admiral	August 1942 - November 1942
13	LT Cames Thomas James, USN	November 1942 - 22 April 1943
14	LT S. G. Richardson, USNR	22 April 1943 - 22 April 1944
15	LT Douglas Darwood McIver, USN	22 April 1944 - 7 April 1945
16	LTJG Edgar Everett Chance, USNR	7 April 1945 - 12 June 1945
17	LT Wilfred C. Fish, USNR	12 June 1945 - 8 October 1945
18	LTJG Dayton B. Weil, USNR	8 October 1945 - 30 November 1945

Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves and Joe Radigan

View the Pelican (AM-27)
DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Website

Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
Naval Minewarfare Association
Association of Minemen

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

NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Pelican (AVP 6)

ex-AM-27ex-Minesweeper No. 27

ex-AM-27
ex-Minesweeper No. 27