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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

HMS Tourmaline (J 339)
ex-Usage (AM 130)


Usage served the Navies of Great Britain and Turkey.
Auk Class Minesweeper:

  • Laid down 1 January 1942 as Usage (AM 130) by the Gulf Shipbuilding Co., Chickasaw, AL
  • Launched 4 October 1942
  • Completed and transferred to Great Britain as HMS Tourmaline (J 339), 7 June 1943
  • Returned to U.S. custody in January 1947, struck from the Navy list, transferred to the Foreign Liquidation Commission for disposition and sold to Turkey as TCG Çardak (M 507)
  • Served with the Turkish Navy until 1974
  • Fate unknown.

    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 single 40mm gun mounts, two single 20mm gun mounts, two depth charge tracks and five depth charge projectors
  • Propulsion: Two 3,532shp General Motors 12-278 diesel electric engines, Farrel-Birmingham single reduction gear, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    HMS Tourmaline (J 339)
    Usage 117k 7 September 1943
    Navy Yard, Charleston, SC
    Starboard quarter view
    U.S. Navy photo    		 Robert Hall
    TCG Çardak (M 507)
    Usage 85k . Cüneyt Demir
    View the Usage (AM 130)
    DANFS history entry located on the Naval Historical Center web site.
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