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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Prime (AM 279)



Call sign:
Nan - Peter - Zebra - Xray


Prime served the Navies of the United States and the Republic of China.
Admirable Class Minesweeper:

  • Laid down, 15 September 1943 at Gulf Shipbuilding Corp., Chickasaw, AL
  • Launched, 22 January 1944
  • Commissioned USS Prime (AM 279), 12 September 1944
  • Decommissioned 29 May 1946 and sold to China at Shanghai, China as Yung Feng (MMC 50)
  • Decommissioned and struck from the Navy Register 1 May 1973
  • Fate unknown.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 945 t. (fl)
  • Length 184' 6"
  • Beam 33'
  • Draft 9' 9"
  • Speed 14.8 kts.
  • Complement 104
  • Armament: One 3"/50 dual purpose mount and one twin 40mm gun mount, six single 20mm gun mounts, one depth charge thrower (hedgehogs), four depth charge projectiles (K-guns), two depth charge tracks
  • Propulsion: Two 855shp Cooper Bessemer GSB-8 diesel engines, National Supply Co. single reduction gear, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    American Ship Building
    110226902    		 263k The Prime (AM-279) was built by the Gulf Shipbuilding Co., Chickasaw, AL, a few miles upstream of the Port of Mobile.
    Here in August 1917, after the United States entered World War I, U.S. Steel established Chickasaw Shipbuilding. The yard closed after World War I but was reopened in 1940 by Waterman Steamship Corp. as Gulf Shipbuilding.     		Insert photos courtesy of catalog.archives.gov & catalog.archives.gov
    Photo courtesy of destroyerhistory.org
    Prime 304k 16 June 1945
    Norfolk Navy Yard
    Starboard broadside view
    U.S. Navy photo 10748(45)    		 David Buell
    Prime 321k 16 June 1945
    Norfolk Navy Yard
    Stern view
    U.S. Navy photo 10750(45)
    Commanding Officers
    01LT Edward Patrick O’Callahan, Jr., USNR12 September 1944 - 25 April 1945
    02LT William Edward Sheppard, USNR25 April 1945 - 29 June 1945
    03LT Rudolph Zemker Smith, USNR29 June 1945 - 27 December 1945
    04LT David William Shand, Jr., USNR27 December 1945
    05LTJG Warren Edward Taylor, USNR24 February 1946
    06LTJG Wilbur Paul Gulley, USNR19 April 1946 - 29 May 1946
    Courtesy of Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves and R. A. Moody
    View the Prime (AM 279)
    DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Web Site.
    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 Minesweeper (AM) Photo Index
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