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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Chief (MSF 315)
ex-USS Chief (AM 315)



Call sign:
November - Charlie - Delta - Romeo

ex-HMS Alice (BAM 2)


Chief served the Navies of the United States and Mexico.
Auk Class Minesweeper:

  • Laid down 25 July 1942 as HMS Alice (BAM 2) by the General Engineering and Dry Dock Co., Alameda, CA
  • Launched, 5 January 1943
  • Renamed and reclassified Chief (AM 315), 23 January 1943
  • Commissioned USS Chief (AM-315), 9 October 1943
    Naval Vessel Register of 1 January 1949 lists plan for decommissioning and placing in reserve as August 1946
  • Placed out of commission, in reserve, 17 March 1947 at San Francisco, CA and laid up in the Pacific Reserve Fleet, San Pedro Group
  • Recommissioned, 28 February 1952 at Long Beach, CA
  • Placed out of commission, in reserve, 1 November 1954
  • Reclassified as a Fleet Minesweeper (Steel Hull), MSF-315, 7 February 1955
  • Laid up in the Pacific Reserve Fleet
  • Sold to Mexico and renamed ARM Jesus Gonzalez Ortega (C-83)
  • Struck from the Navy Register 1 July 1972
  • Reclassified G-15
  • Fate unknown.

    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 twin 40mm gun mounts, two single 20mm gun mounts, two depth charge tracks and five depth charge projectors
  • Propulsion: Two 2,976shp Baldwin VO8 diesel electric drive engines, Westinghouse single reduction gear, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Chief 112k . Robert Hurst
    Chief 140k Underway, soon after recommissioning in 1952. Note that she still wears small hull numbers at her bow. An accoustic "hammer box" is stowed on her main deck, amidships.
    U.S. Navy photo NH 96996    		 Naval Historical Center
    AMS-5 Condor/LST-735 Dukes County 88k Dukes County (LST 735) serving as mother ship for seven minesweepers, probably in a Japanese port, c. 1952-54. Ships nested alongside are: Gull (AMS-16); Firecrest (AMS-10); Condor (AMS-5); Merganser (AMS-26); Osprey (AMS-28); Competent (AM-316); and Chief.
    Courtesy of the U.S. Naval Institute, James C. Fahey Collection.
    U.S. Navy photo NH 68589
    Chief 144k The enlisted complement of Chief poses alongside their ship, circa 1952-54.
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 96997    		 Russ Padden
    View the Chief (MSF 315)
    DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Website
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    Naval Minewarfare Association
    Association of Minemen
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