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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Motive (MSF 102)
ex-AM-102



Call sign:
November - Alpha - November - Oscar
Auk Class Minesweeper:

  • Laid down 14 April 1942 by the General Engineering and Dry Dock Co., Alameda, CA
  • Launched 17 August 1942
  • Commissioned USS Motive (AM 102), 17 April 1943
  • Decommissioned 15 June 1946 at San Diego, CA
    Naval Vessel Register of 1 January 1949 lists out of commission, in reserve as December 1945
  • Reclassified as a Fleet Minesweeper (Steel Hull), MSF-102, 7 February 1956
  • Struck from the Navy Register 1 December 1966
  • Sunk as a target in April 1968.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 890 t.
  • Length 221' 2"
  • Beam 32'
  • Draft 10' 9"
  • Speed 18.1 kts.
  • Complement 105
  • Armament: One 3"/50 dual purpose gun mount, two 40mm gun mounts, two 20mm gun mounts, two depth charge tracks, and five depth charge projectors
  • Propulsion: Two 1,559shp Busch Sulzer 539 diesel electric engines, Westinghouse single reduction gear, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    USS Motive (AM 102)
    Motive 69k Tommy Trampp
    Motive 162k Original photo: 24 May 1944
    Replacement photo: Wearing camouflage 32/1M at San Pedro, CA on 13 May 1944. The colors are dull black, ocean gray and light gray
    Photos BS 65169 from the National Archives Bureau of Ships collection    		 Original photo: Robert Hurst
    Replacement photo: Ships of the U.S. Navy in WWII “Dazzle” Camouflage
    Motive 240k Wearing camouflage 32/1M at San Pedro, CA on 13 May 1944. The colors are dull black, ocean gray and light gray
    Photos BS 65163 and BS 65168 from the National Archives Bureau of Ships collection    		 Ships of the U.S. Navy in WWII “Dazzle” Camouflage
    Motive 287k
    Motive
    Motive 106k c. April 1968
    Preparing to be towed from Pearl Harbor, HI to be sunk as a target    		 ©Richard Leonhardt
    Commanding Officers
    01LCDR Joseph G. Enzensperger, Jr., USNR17 April 1943
    02LCDR V. L. Hollister, USNRMay 1945
    03LT George Henry Lovell, Jr., USNR1 October 1945
    04LTJG John Kevin Tabor, USNR7 December 1945
    05LTJG Paul Francis Curau, USNR19 March 1946
    06LTJG Robert Edward Thomas, Jr., USNR7 May 1946 - 15 June 1946
    ??LCDR George W. E. Lundgren, USN
    Courtesy of Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves and Joe Radigan
    View the Motive (MSF 102)
    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 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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