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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Oracle (MSF 103)
ex-AM-103



Call sign:
November - Alpha - Papa - Quebec
Auk Class Minesweeper:

  • Laid down 7 May 1942 by the General Engineering and Dry Dock Co., Alameda, CA
  • Launched 30 September 1942
  • Commissioned USS Oracle (AM 103), 14 May 1943
  • Decommissioned 29 May 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-103, 7 February 1956
  • Struck from the Naval Register 1 December 1966
  • Sunk as a target in 1967.

    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 reduction gear, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Oracle 106k Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 89204 Mike Green
    Oracle 47k Photo courtesy of Eric Lund from Hyperwar website Robert Hurst
    Oracle 134k Christmas 1945
    Whangpoo River, Shanghai, China
    U.S. Navy photo courtesy of Eric Lund from Hyperwar website
    Commanding Officers
    01LCDR William Henry Putnam, USN14 May 1943
    02LCDR John Robert Fels, USN7 September 1943
    03LCDR Donald Willard Deits, USN10 November 1944 - 19 September 1945
    04LCDR Francis Xavier Connors, Jr., USN19 September 1945
    05LCDR George Edward Corson, USN16 November 1945 - 29 May 1946
    Courtesy of Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves
    View the Oracle (MSF 103)
    DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Website
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    Naval Minewarfare Association
    Association of Minemen
    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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