Please report any broken links or trouble you might come across to the Webmaster Please take a moment to let us know so that we can correct any problems and make your visit as enjoyable and as informative as possible.

NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

USS Discoverer (ARS 3)

Call sign:
Nan - Queen - Mike - Nan

ex-USC&GS Discoverer

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

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

ex-USS Auk (AM 38)
ex-USS Auk (Minesweeper No. 38)

Call sign (1919):
George - Boy - Cast - Fox

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

Auk served the Navies of the United States and Venezuela

Lapwing Class Minesweeper:

Laid down 20 June 1918 by the Todd Shipyard Corp., New York City, NY

Launched 28 September 1918

Commissioned USS Auk, Minesweeper No. 38, 31 January 1919 at New York Navy Yard

Designated AM-38, 17 July 1920

Transferred to the Coast and Geodetic Survey 7 April 1922 and renamed USC&GS Discoverer. Commemorated by Discoverer Bay, Kodiak Island, Alaska, and Discoverer Island, a small island in that bay

Returned to U.S. Navy custody 26 August 1941

Reclassified as a Rescue and Salvage Ship, ARS-3 and placed in service with a civilian crew

Struck from the Naval Register 28 January 1947 and transferred to the Maritime Commission for disposal

Naval Vessel Register of 1 January 1949 lists plan for transfer to the War Shipping Administration as June 1947

Transferred to Venezuela 9 June 1947 and renamed Felipe Larrazábal (R-11)

Decommissioned in 1962 and abandoned.

Specifications:

Displacement 840 t.

1933 - 1,180 t.

Length 187' 10"

1933 - 180'

Beam 35' 5"

Draft 8' 10"

1933 - 12.6'

Speed 14 kts.

Complement 85

1933 - 69

Armament: Two 3"/50 dual purpose mounts

1941 - One 20mm mount or smaller

Propulsion: Two Babcock and Wilcox 200psi boilers, one 1,200shp Harlan and Hollingsworth Corp. triple expansion engine, one shaft

1933 - 1,400hp.

Click on thumbnail for full size image	Size	Image Description	Source
USS Auk (Minesweeper No. 38)
	30k	Namesake: *Auk* - A diving bird native to the colder climates of the northern hemisphere	Tommy Trampp
	110k	While taking part in clearing the North Sea mine barrage, "The fleet put in to Stavanger, a bustling town in Norway, made prosperous by the war." (quoted from the original 1919 vintage caption). USS Woodcock (Minesweeper No. 14) is in the foreground. In the left background are (from front to rear): USS SC-356, USS SC-40, USS Eider (Minesweeper No. 17), USS Sanderling (Minesweeper No. 37) - probable identification, is Auk and an unidentified minesweeper U. S. Navy photo from the Navy Recruitment Bureau, New York U.S. Navy photo NH 99789	Naval Historical Center
	56k	Photo from "Sweeping the North Sea Mine Barrage" by the U.S. Navy North Sea Minesweeping Detachment	Joe Radigan
	73k
	91k
	315k
	73k	Auk, in heavy seas en route to Bermuda, attempting to take on fuel from Black Hawk (Destroyer Tender No. 9), 10 November 1919. The weathered remains of Auk's single letter code, from her service in the North Sea mine clearance operation, is visible beneath her bow number U.S. Navy photo NH 45252	Original photo: Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships Replacement photo: Robert Hurst
USC&GS Discoverer
	113k	Towing USC&GS Westdahl to the Alaska working grounds Photo theb3932 from NOAA's Fleet Then and Now - Sailing for Science Collection	Robert Hurst
	90k	Photos theb0195, theb0196, and theb3933 from NOAA's Fleet Then and Now - Sailing for Science Collection
	96k
	107k
	102k	Postcard of Discoverer at Seward, Alaska Published by Schallerer's Alaska Shop in Seward	David Wright Photo added 16 January 2022
	292k	c. 1925 Gulf of Alaska Photo courtesy of the Family of Rear Admiral Paul A. Smith, C&GS Photo theb0104 from NOAA's Fleet Then and Now - Sailing for Science Collection	Robert Hurst
	102k	c. 1930's BuShips photo 25330 from the National Archives	Mike Green
	67k	c. 1931 In the Pacific Captain Harry Garber, C&GS Photo theb0103 from NOAA's Fleet Then and Now - Sailing for Science Collection	Robert Hurst
	126k	c. 1935 Aleutian Islands, AK	Original photo: Office of the Oceanographer of the Navy Replacement photo: NOAA Website
	166k	4 July 1939 Dutch Harbor, Unalaska Island, Alaska Coast and Geodetic Survey Ships Guide, ex-Flamingo (AM 32) (in foreground) and Discoverer. Taking on fuel from USS Chester (CA 27) NOAA Photo Library, NOAA Central Library; C&GS Season's Report Eickelberg 1939-32.	NOAA Website
	108k	c. 1940 Old Woman's Bay, Kodiak Island, Alaska Survey crew heading out from Discoverer Photo theb0084 from NOAA's Fleet Then and Now - Sailing for Science Collection	Robert Hurst
Felipe Larrazábal (R-11)
	211k	Venezuelan Navy photo	David Wright
	51k	c. 1952 Venezuelan Navy photo	Robert Hurst
	124k	Original photo: c. 2009 Abandoned somewhere in Venezuela Replacement photo: 24 February 2015 Puerto Cabello, Venezuela Photo from SHIPSPOTTING.com Website	Original photo: Tim Schwabedissen Replacement photo: David Wright

Commanding Officers
01	LT Gregory Cullen, USN - Awarded the Navy Cross (1919) Retired as Lieutenant	31 January 1919
02	LCDR H. A. Seran, USCGS	29 April 1922

Courtesy Joe Radigan

View the Auk (AM-38)
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 Rescue and Salvage Ship (ARS) Photo Index

Comments, Suggestions, E-mail Webmaster

NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

USS Discoverer (ARS 3)

ex-USC&GS Discoverer

ex-USS Auk (AM 38)ex-USS Auk (Minesweeper No. 38)

ex-USS Auk (AM 38)
ex-USS Auk (Minesweeper No. 38)