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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Pheasant (MSF 61)
ex-AM-61



Call sign:
November - Bravo - Oscar - Delta
Auk Class Minesweeper:

  • Laid down 22 July 1942 by the Defoe Boat and Marine Works, Bay City, MI
  • Launched 24 October 1942
  • Commissioned USS Pheasant (AM 61), 12 December 1942
  • Decommissioned in December 1945 at San Diego, CA
  • Reclassified as a Fleet Minesweeper (Steel Hull), MSF-61, 7 February 1955
  • Struck from the Naval Register 1 December 1966 and sunk as a target.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 890 t.
  • Length 221' 2"
  • Beam 32' 2"
  • Draft 10' 9"
  • Speed 18.1 kts.
  • Complement 105
  • Armament: One 3"/50 dual purpose gun mount, two 40mm gun mounts, eight 20mm guns, two depth charge tracks, and five depth charge projectors
  • Propulsion: Two 1,559shp ALCO 539 diesel electric engines, Westinghouse single reduction gear, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Pheasant 40k Namesake: Pheasant - A large, long-tailed, brilliantly colored gallinaceous bird Tommy Trampp
    Photo added 23 March 2020
    Pheasant 72k c. 1943
    U.S. Navy photo    		 Joe Radigan
    Pheasant 92k 18 April 1943
    U.S. Navy photo
    Pheasant 42k
    Tide 101k Tide (AM 125) sinking off "Utah" Beach after striking a mine during the Normandy invasion, 7 June 1944. PT-509 and Pheasant are standing by. Photographed from Threat (AM-124)
    U.S. Navy Photo 80-G-651677    		 Naval Historical Center
    Tide 101k Tide (AM 125) sinking, soon after hitting a mine off "Utah" Beach during the Normandy landings, 7 June 1944, Pheasant is standing by, off Tide's bow
    U.S. Navy Photo 80-G-651678
    Pheasant 936k Ships History Ron Reeves
    Pheasant 443k
    Pheasant 544k
    Commanding Officers
    01LCDR John B. Burnham, USNR12 December 1942 - 4 August 1943
    02LCDR Mareel J. Blanco, USNR4 August 1943 - 11 November 1943
    03LCDR Harold Irving Pratt, USNR11 November 1943 - 30 September 1944
    04LCDR Charles W. Logan, USNR30 September 1944 - 4 August 1945
    05LCDR Joseph J. Summerell, USNR4 August 1945 - 9 November 1945
    06LT Lawrence A. Carton, USNR9 November 1945 - 7 January 1946
    07LT Snowden Hoff, Jr., USNR7 January 1946 - 15 January 1946
    Courtesy of Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves
    View the Pheasant (MSF 61)
    DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Website
    Back To The Main Photo Index Back To the Mine Ship Photo Index Back to the Fleet Minesweeper (MSF) Photo Index
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    This page created and maintained by Joseph M. Radigan (of blessed memory) & Michael Mohl
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