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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive
Courtesy of Al Grazevich


Contributed by Jeremy Ross, DM2, c. 1959

Sheldrake (AGS 19)
ex-AM-62



Call sign:
November - Bravo - Mike - Charlie
Auk Class Minesweeper:

  • Laid down 24 June 1941 by the General Engineering and Dry Dock Co., Alameda, CA
  • Launched 12 February 1942
  • Commissioned USS Sheldrake (AM 62), 14 October 1942
  • Decommissioned 31 May 1946 at San Diego, CA
    Naval Vessel Register of 1 January 1949 lists decommissioning and placed in reserve date as December 1945
  • Recommissioned 14 April 1952 and converted to an Oceanographic Survey Ship, AGS-19 at New York
  • Struck from the Naval Register 30 June 1968
  • Decommissioned 1 August 1968 at Pearl Harbor, HI
  • Sold for scrap 2 November 1971 to Flynn-Learner of Honolulu, HI.

    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 3,118shp ALCO 539 diesel electric engines, Westinghouse single reduction gear, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    USS Sheldrake (AM 62)
    Sheldrake 34k Namesake: Sheldrake - Any of several Old World ducks of genus Tadoma Tommy Trampp
    Photo added 5 April 2020
    Sheldrake 96k 6 November 1942
    U.S. Navy photo    		 Joe Radigan
    Sheldrake 328k 6 November 1942
    San Francisco Bay
    General Engineering and Dry Dock Co. photo    		 Ed Zajkowski
    Sheldrake 538k 18 January 1945
    General Engineering and Dry Dock Co., San Francisco, CA
    U.S. Navy photos 432-45-S8, 443-45-S4 and 431-45-S8
    Sheldrake 524k
    Sheldrake 338k
    Sheldrake 347k From the collection of Rhineheat P. Radant. Crewmember from September 1944 to March 1946 David Radant
    Sheldrake 322k
    Sheldrake 275k
    Sheldrake 285k
    Sheldrake 302k
    Sheldrake 336k
    Sheldrake 219k
    USS Sheldrake (AGS 19)
    Sheldrake 164k Office of the Oceanographer of the Navy
    Sheldrake 164k U.S. Navy photo from the December 1962 edition of All Hands magazine Joe Radigan
    Sheldrake 431k 1 February 1965
    Genoa, Italy
    USS Tanner (AGS-15) is in the background    		 Carlo Martinelli
    Sheldrake 47k c. 1966 Robert Hurst
    Sheldrake 133k c. 1966
    U.S. Navy photo from the 1966/1967 edition of Jane's Fighting Ships
    Commanding Officers
    01LCDR Warren Franklin Porter, USNR14 October 1942 - 1943
    02LT Arthur Charles Friend, USN29 June 1943
    03LT Robert Greene Nichols, USN8 August 1943 - 5 November 1943
    04LT Joseph B. Neiser, USN5 November 1943
    05LT Thomas William Cross, USN31 March 1944 - 8 January 1945
    06LT Burt E. Taylor, Jr., USN8 January 1945 - 31 May 1946
    07LCDR Robert Haley Laighton, USN - USNA Class of 1951
    Awarded the Navy Commendation Medal - Retired as Commander    		October 1957 - February 1958
    08LCDR James Calvin Peeler, USNFebruary 1958 - 1959
    09LCDR Stuart Edward Beyer, USN - USNA Class of 19461960
    10LCDR Samuel Hubert Applegarth, Jr.,USN - USNA Class of 195126 July 1963 - June 1965
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves, Joe Radigan and Hal Reick
    View the Sheldrake (AGS 19)
    DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Website
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    This page is created and maintained by Joseph M. Radigan (of blessed memory) & Michael Mohl
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