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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

USS Crusader (ARS 2)



Call sign:
Nan - Queen - Love - Victor

ex-USC&GS Pioneer



Call sign (1924):
Nan - Item - Jig - Love


Call sign (1933):
William - Tare - Easy - Sail

ex-USS Osprey (AM 29)



Call sign (1920):
Negat - Afirm - Zed - Queen

ex-Minesweeper No. 29



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

Osprey served both the U. S. Navy and the Coast & Geodetic Survey


Lapwing Class Minesweeper:

  • Laid down 14 November 1917 by the Gas Engine and Power Co. and Charles L. Seabury, Morris Heights, NY
  • Launched 19 November 1918
  • Commissioned USS Osprey (Minesweeper No. 29), 7 January 1919
  • Designated AM-29, 17 July 1920
  • Decommissioned 12 December 1920
  • Transferred to the Coast and Geodetic Survey 7 April 1922 and renamed USC&GS Pioneer
  • Returned to Navy custody 17 September 1941, recommissioned and reclassified as a Salvage Ship, USS Crusader (ARS-2)
  • Transferred to the Maritime Commission for disposal 13 February 1947
  • Sold in April 1952
  • Fate unknown.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 950 t.
    1933 - 1,180 t.
  • Length 187' 10"
    1933 - 180'
  • Beam 35' 6"
  • Draft 9' 9"
    1933 - 12.6'
  • Speed 14 kts.
  • Complement 82
    1933 - 69
  • Armament: Two .30 cal. Lewis machine guns
    1941 - 20mm mount or smaller
  • Propulsion: Two 200psi Babcock and Wilcox boilers, one 1,400shp Harlan and Hollingsworth Corp. vertical triple expansion steam engine, one shaft.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image
    Size Image Description Source
    USS Osprey (Minesweeper No. 29)
    Osprey 44k
    Namesake:

    Osprey - A large hawk-like bird with a dark brown back and a white breast, found in most countries of the world

    Tommy Trampp
    Penguin 80k "The Buoy Laying Division in Kirkwall Harbor." From left to right, in center: Osprey, Penguin (Minesweeper #33), and USS Lapwing (Minesweeper # 1) moored together in Kirkwall Harbor, Orkney Islands, during the sweeping of the North Sea Mine Barrage, 1919. Note the identification letters on the ships' bows: "A" on Osprey, "PD" on Penguin and "W" on Lapwing
    Halftone reproduction of a photograph taken by Kitress, of USS Swan [Minesweeper No. 34], published in the cruise book "Sweeping the North Sea Mine Barrage, 1919", page 63
    Donation of Chief Storekeeper Charles A. Free
    U.S. Navy photo NH 99474
    Naval Historical Center
    Osprey 277k Photo from "Sweeping the North Sea Mine Barrage" by the U.S. Navy North Sea Minesweeping Detachment Joe Radigan
    USC&GS Pioneer
    Pioneer 98k USC&GS Pioneer Office of the Oceanographer of the Navy
    Pioneer/Crusader 146k 8 September 1922
    Shortly after her transfer to the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey
    Library of Congress photo LC-F8- 20428
    Mike Green
    Pioneer/Guide 108k Seen here as USC&GS Pioneer (left) along with USC&GS Guide, ex-Flamingo (AM 32) (right) at Dutch Harbor, Unalaska, Alaska, 1940
    USC&GS photo
    Ramon Jackson
    Osprey 61k USC&GS Pioneer Joe Radigan
    Flamingo/Osprey 118k c. 1940
    Alaska
    Coast and Geodetic Survey Ships Pioneer and Guide
    NOAA Photo Library, NOAA Central Library; Captain Harry D. Reed, C&GS
    NOAA Website
    USS Crusader (ARS 2)
    Crusader 88k Near the Mare Island Navy Yard on 23 March 1942, shortly after completing conversion to a civilian-operated salvage vessel
    Naval History and Heritage Command photos from Shipscribe
    Mike Green
    Crusader 92k

    Commanding Officers
    01LT Murry Wolffe, USN - Awarded the Navy Cross (1920)7 January 1919 - 17 December 1920
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves

    View the Osprey (AM-29)
    DANFS history entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway website
    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
    Salvage Ship (ARS) Photo Index

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