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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 (AM 27)
    Pelican 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
    Pelican 862k 28 February 1920.
    1920 Census report.
    Pigeon 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
    Pigeon 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
    Pelican 161k Pelican supporting two probable Curtiss HS-1L aircraft near Pearl Harbor in February 1924
    National Archives photo 80-G-1009755    		 Mike Green
    Pelican 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
    USS Pelican (AVP 6)
    Pelican 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
    Pelican 44k c. 1936.
    Hawaii
    Photo by Edward Cwalinski, U.S. Army, Ret.    		 Barry Litchfield
    Pelican 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
    Pelican 100k c. 1945
    Off Key West, FL    		 Jim Geldert
    Pelican 41k
    Pelican 89k
    Commanding Officers
    01LTJG George E. McHugh, USNR10 October 1918
    02LTJG Edward Burke Peterson, USNR1 July 1920
    ??LT Edward Danielson, USN17 August 1922 - 23 November 1922
    ??LT Doile Greenwell, USN23 November 1922
    ??LT William Reginald Spear, USN15 October 1929
    ??LT Robert Stevens Savin, USN1932
    07LCDR Aaron Putnam Storrs, III, USN - USNA Class of 1923
    Retired as Rear Admiral    		November 1935 - July 1937
    ??LT Carl Hawkinsmith Barnes Morrison, USN1938 - June 1939
    ??LT Howell Jesse Dyson, USNJune 1939 - June 1941
    ??LT Willard Arthur Saunders, USN1940 - 1941
    ??LCDR John Clement Alderman, USNJune 1941 - August 1942
    ??CDR Curtis Howell Hutchings, USN - Retired as Rear AdmiralAugust 1942 - November 1942
    ??LT Cames Thomas James, USNNovember 1942 - 22 April 1943
    ??LT S. G. Richardson, USNR22 April 1943 - 22 April 1944
    ??LT Douglas Darwood McIver, USN22 April 1944 - 7 April 1945
    ??LTJG Edgar Everett Chance, USNR7 April 1945 - 12 June 1945
    ??LT Wilfred C. Fish, USNR12 June 1945 - 8 October 1945
    ??LTJG Dayton B. Weil, USNR8 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
    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 Index Back to the Small Seaplane Tender (AVP) Photo Index
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    This page created by Gary P. Priolo and maintained by Joe Radigan
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