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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Pigeon (ASR 6)



Call sign (1924):
Nan - Item - King - Fox

ex-AM-47
ex-Minesweeper No. 47



Call sign (1919):
George - Boy - Dog - Vice

Sunk 4 May 1942
Lapwing Class Minesweeper:

  • Laid down 15 June 1918 by the Baltimore Dry Dock and Shipbuilding Co., Baltimore, Maryland
  • Launched 29 January 1919
  • Commissioned USS Pigeon (Minesweeper No. 47), 15 July 1919
  • Designated AM-47, 17 July 1920
  • Decommissioned 25 April 1922 at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
  • Recommissioned 13 October 1923
  • Reclassified a Submarine Rescue Ship, ASR-6, 12 September 1929
  • Sunk 4 May 1942 by a Japanese dive bombers off Corregidor, Philippines.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 950 t.(lt) 1,009 t.(fl)
  • Length 187' 10"
  • Beam 35' 6"
  • Draft 9' 9"
  • Speed 14 kts.
  • Complement 72
  • Armament: One 11-pounder and two machine guns
    World War II - Two 3"/50 dual purpose gun mounts and two 20mm gun mounts
  • Propulsion: One 1,400shp Harlan and Hollingsworth, vertical triple-expansion steam engine, one shaft.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Pigeon (Minesweeper No. 47)
    Pigeon 31k Namesake: Pigeon - A bird of stout body; short legs; and smooth compact plumage Tommy Trampp
    Photo added 14 March 2020
    Pigeon 89k 29 January 1919
    Sliding down the ways
    Photo from the November 1954 issue of All Hands magazine    		 Joseph M. Radigan (of blessed memory)
    Pigeon 82k In port, 7 July 1919, at about the time she was delivered to the Navy
    Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives
    U.S. Navy photo 19-N-2260    		 Naval Historical Center
    USS Pigeon (AM 47)
    Pigeon 223k In Chinese waters, circa the later 1920s, showing modifications made to fit her as a gunboat for use on the Yangtze River
    Courtesy of Alfred Cellier, 1977
    U.S. Navy photo NH 85732    		 Original photo: Naval Historical Center
    Replacement photo: Robert Hurst
    Pigeon 150k In a Chinese port, circa the later 1920s, after she had been modified for use as a gunboat on the lower Yangtze River
    Courtesy of the U.S. Naval Institute, Annapolis, Maryland, 1969
    U.S. Navy photo NH 68209    		 Original photo: Naval Historical Center
    Replacement photo: Robert Hurst
    Pigeon 116k USS Pigeon (AM-47) with the Standard Oil Co. tanker Mei Hung alongside, while serving as a gunboat with the Yangtze River Patrol in China during the 1920s
    From the collection of Captain Glenn Howell
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 96718    		 Robert Hurst
    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. USS Pelican (AM-27) 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. USS Pelican (AM-27) is the outboard ship in
    the center
    U.S. Navy photo NH 45243-A
    Oriole 189k Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Territory: View taken circa 1922 or somewhat later, looking toward 1010 Dock and into the Southeast Loch, from over Ford Island. Several laid-up minesweepers are present. USS Thrush (AM-18) is at left, moored to a buoy with a sister ship. Tied up at the end of 1010 dock are USS Oriole (AM-7), USS Pigeon (AM-47) and USS Pelican (AM-27). A Hog Island-type freighter at right is probably USS Procyon (AG-11), flagship of the Battle Fleet's Base Force. A fleet tug is in the center, hauled out on the Navy Yard Marine Railway
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 45243    		 Robert Hurst
    Pigeon 117k c. 1929
    Photo from the November 1954 edition of All Hands magazine.    		 Joseph M. Radigan (of blessed memory)
    USS Pigeon (ASR 6)
    Pigeon 282k Photo courtesy of Lieutenant George Knuepfer, USN Ron Reeves
    Pigeon 91k S-40 (SS-145) alongside Pigeon (ASR-6), at Shanghai, China in 1932.
    Photographed by Gustave J. Freret, Jr., USN
    U.S. Navy Photo NH 51815    		 Naval Historical Center
    Pigeon 138k In Cam Ranh Bay, Indochina, July 1939.
    Photograph from the New York Times Paris Bureau collection in the U.S. National Archives.
    U.S. Navy photo 306-NT-508E
    Pigeon 45k c. September 1939
    Seen here as ASR-6 grounded by a typhoon.
    US Navy Photo    		 Submitted by Fred Reep to National Association of Fleet Tug Sailors
    Pigeon 54k 2 September 1939
    She went aground 31 August 1939    		 James D. McGrew
    Pigeon 65k
    Pigeon 60k
    Pigeon 75k "High and dry", after she ran aground during a typhoon at Tsingtao, China, September 1939.
    Collection of Jack L. Wheat..
    U.S. Navy photos NH 99674 and NH 99675    		 Naval Historical Center
    Pigeon 74k
    Pigeon 74k Undergoing refloating operations after she ran aground during a typhoon at Tsingtao, China, September 1939. Short range battle targets are hung amidships.
    Collection of Chief Torpedoman John Vieira, USN (Retired).
    U.S. Navy photo NH 99696
    Pigeon 74k On the beach after she ran aground during a typhoon at Tsingtao, China, September 1939.
    Collection of Chief Torpedoman John Vieira, USN (Retired).
    U.S. Navy photo NH 99697
    Pigeon 74k Photographed during salvage operations, after she ran aground during a typhoon at Tsingtao, China, September 1939.
    Collection of Chief Torpedoman John Vieira, USN (Retired).
    U.S. Navy photo NH 99698
    Finch/Pigeon 16k 1 October 1939
    Finch (AM 9) towing Pigeon free after she had run aground. The craft on the left is unknown. Photo taken from the deck of the Augusta [CA 31].    		 James D. McGrew
    Pigeon 352k . Gary Priolo
    Pigeon 366k 14 May 1942
    Associated Press article    		 Ron Reeves
    Commanding Officers
    01LT William Carl Procknow, USN15 July 1919
    02LT Carl Ludvig Hansen, USN26 January 1922 - 25 April 1922
    03LCDR John Martin Ashley, USN13 May 1924
    04LCDR Anthony John James, USN25 June 1924
    05LCDR Elwin Fisher Cutts, USN1925 - 20 June 1925
    06CDR Raymond Foss Frellsen, USN20 June 1925 - 21 July 1927
    07CDR Charles Edwin Reordan, USN21 July 1927 - January 1928
    08LT Charles Edward Coney, USN4 January 1928 - 22 June 1928
    09LT Harold Jackson Bellingham, USN22 June 1928 - 11 June 1930
    10LCDR Thomas Edward Flaherty, USN11 June 1930 - 1932
    11LT John Ambrose Hollowell, Jr., USN14 February 1935
    12LT Daniel Joseph Sweeney, USN13 April 1935
    13LT Eugene Brownlow Oliver, USN1936 - 14 August 1937
    14LT Warren Bell Sampson, USN14 August 1937 - 2 October 1939
    15LT George Joseph King, USN2 October 1939 - 12 February 1940
    16LCDR Richard Ellington Hawes, USN - Awarded two Navy Crosses (1926/1941)12 February 1940 - 5 January 1942
    17LCDR Frank Alfred Davis, USNR - Awarded the Navy Cross (1941), the Legion of Merit (Posthumously/1944) and the Prisoner of War Medal (1942 - 1944)5 January 1942 - 4 May 1942
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves and Joseph M. Radigan (of blessed memory)
    View the Pigeon (AM-47)
    DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Website
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