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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Chewink (ASR 3)



Call sign:
Nan - Item - Jig - Victor

ex-Chewink (AM 39)
ex-Chewink (Minesweeper No. 39)



Call sign (1919):
George - Boy - Cast - King
Lapwing Class Minesweeper:

  • Laid down 8 July 1918 by the Todd Shipyard Corp., New York, NY
  • Launched 21 December 1918
  • Commissioned USS Chewink, Minesweeper No. 39, 9 April 1919
  • Designated AM-39, 17 July 1920
  • Reclassified as a Submarine Rescue Ship, ASR-3, 12 September 1929
  • Decommissioned 21 August 1933 at Pearl Harbor, HI
  • Recommissioned 12 November 1940 at Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, CA
  • Decommissioned 4 February 1947 at Brooklyn, NY
  • Sunk as a target 31 July 1947 off New London, CT.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 1,400 t.
  • Length 188' 7"
  • Beam 36' 8"
  • Draft 13' 2"
  • Speed 14 kts.
  • Complement 91
  • Armament: One 3"/50 dual purpose mount
    1942 - Two 3"/23 mounts
  • Propulsion: Two 200psi Babcock and Wilcox saturated steam boilers, Harlan and Hollingsworth Corp. 1,400shp triple expansion vertical engine, one shaft.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    USS Chewink (Minesweeper No. 39)
    Chewink 52k
    Namesake:

    Chewink - The common towhee finch of eastern North America

    		 Tommy Trampp
    Chewink 304k Photo from "Sweeping the North Sea Mine Barrage" by the U.S. Navy North Sea Minesweeping Detachment Joe Radigan
    Chewink 156k c. 1919
    Hudson River, New York
    SC-47 alongside for Secretary of the Navy review
    Photo from "Sweeping the North Sea Mine Barrage" by the U.S. Navy North Sea Minesweeping Detachment
    USS Chewink (AM 39)
    Chewink 60k National Archives photo Ramon Jackson
    Chewink 296 Russell Dorman, who served in World War I, carried this photo in his wallet David Dorman
    Photo added 1 July 2020
    USS Chewink (ASR 3)
    Chewink 64k Donald Tabor via the National Association of Fleet Tug Sailors
    Chewink 655k Times-Herald International News Soundphoto Darryl Baker
    Chewink 175k 30 June 1942
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 90209 from Shipscribe    		 Mike Green
    Commanding Officers
    01LTJG James Williams, USN - Awarded the Navy Cross (1920)9 April 1919
    02LT John David Walsh, USN26 December 1921 - 2 October 1922
    03CDR George Christian Logan, USN2 October 1922
    04CAPT Ernest Joseph King, USN - USNA Class of 1901
    Awarded the Navy Cross (1920) and three Navy Distinguished Service Medals (1926/1927/1945) - Chief of Naval Operations 2 March 1942 - 15 December 1945
    Retired as Fleet Admiral    		4 September 1923
    05CAPT Frank Dunn Berrien, USN - USNA Class of 1900
    Awarded the Navy Distinguished Service Medal (1917) - Retired as Rear Admiral    		1923
    06CDR Ross Sherman Culp, USNDecember 1926 - 8 February 1927
    07LT Joseph Alfred Rasmussen, USN8 February 1927
    08LT Charles Frederick Grisham, USN30 August 1929 - 1 May 1931
    09LCDR Grover Anderson Miller, USN1 May 1931 - 21 August 1933
    10LT/LCDR Karl Raymond Wheland, USN- USNA Class of 1931
    Awarded two Navy Commendation Medals with Combat V - Retired as Captain    		12 November 1940 - 8 July 1942
    11LCDR Eugene J. Frieh, USN8 July 1942 - 1 July 1943
    12LCDR George Waugh Albin, Jr., USN 1 July 1943 - 22 January 1944
    13LT John O. Cavanaugh, USN22 January 1944 - 8 May 1944
    14LT William Peter Baron, USN8 May 1944 - 1 November 1944
    15LT Paul Clifford Cotrell, Sr., USN1 November 1944 - 1 November 1946
    16LTJG Charlie Thomas Kincaid, USN1 November 1946 - 4 February 1947
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves and Joe Radigan
    View the Chewink (AM-39)
    DANFS history entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway website
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