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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

USS Defense (MSF 317)
ex-USS Defense (AM 317)



Call sign:
November - Charlie - India - Victor

ex-HMS Amity (BAM 4)


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

  • Laid down 2 October 1942 as HMS Amity (BAM 4) by the General Engineering and Dry Dock Co., Alameda, CA
  • Renamed and reclassified Defense (AM 317), 23 January 1943
  • Launched 18 February 1943
  • Commissioned USS Defense (AM-317), 10 January 1944
    Naval Vessel Register of 1 January 1949 lists plan for decommissioning and placing in reserve as April 1946
  • Placed out of commission, in reserve, 31 May 1946 at San Diego, CA and laid up in the Pacific Reserve Fleet
  • Recommissioned 10 February 1952 at Long Beach, CA
  • Reclassified Fleet Minesweeper (Steel Hull), MSF-317, 7 February 1955
  • Placed out of commission, in reserve, 15 April 1955 at Long Beach and laid up in the Pacific Reserve Fleet
  • Struck from the Naval Register 1 July 1972
  • Sold to Mexico 3 January 1973 and renamed ARM Manuel Doblado (C-73)
  • Reclassified G-05 and P-104
  • Currently in service at Manzanillo, Mexico.

    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 20mm gun mounts, two depth charge tracks and five depth charge projectors
  • Propulsion: Two 1, 498shp Baldwin VO8 diesel electric drive engines, Westinghouse single reduction gear, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    USS Defense (AM 317)
    Defense 24k USS Defense
    (AM-317) Website
    Defense 14k
    Defense 230k 17 March 1944
    National Archives photo    		 Roy Cordell
    Defense 79k 30 September 1945 Robert Hurst
    Defense 144k Photographed circa 1952, shortly after she was recommissioned for Korean War service
    U.S. Navy photo NH 96912    		 Naval Historical Center
    Defense 73k At Sasebo, Japan, with nine minesweepers and a harbor tug alongside. Original photo is dated 8 October 1952. Ships nested to left of Laertes (AR 20) are (from left): Impeccable (AM-320); Gladiator (AM-319); Shoveler (AM-382); Defense and Devastator (AM-318). Those nested to right are (from left): Condor (AMS-5); Kite (AMS-22); Curlew (AMS-8); Chatterer (AMS-40), and Wallacut (YTB-420)
    U.S. Navy photo 80-G-63229
    ARM Manuel Doblado (P 104)
    Defense 40k Namesake: Manuel Doblado Partida (12 June 1818 – 19 June 1865) was a prominent Mexican liberal politician and lawyer who served as congressman, Governor of Guanajuato, Minister of Foreign Affairs (1861) in the cabinet of President Juárez and fought in the War of Reform Tommy Trampp
    Photo added 20 March 2020
    Defense 66k Mexican Navy photo Mexican Navy
    Defense 90k c. 2010 Dave Schroeder and John Chiquoine
    Defense 123k
    Champion 130k c. 2010
    ARM Mariano Escobar (P 103), ex-Champion (MSF 314) is on her starboard side
    Champion 330k c. January 2011
    Manzanillo, Mexico
    Moored alongside ARM Mariano Escobar (P 103), ex-Champion (MSF 314)    		 Gábor Fekete
    Champion 441k
    Champion 272k
    Commanding Officers
    01LCDR Gordon Abbott, USNR10 January 1944 - 3 June 1945
    02LT Alfred C. Lucky, USNR3 June 1945 - 30 June 1945
    03LCDR Gordon Abbott, USNR30 June 1945 - 7 November 1945
    04LTJG Floyd Herman Jacobson, USNR8 November 1945
    05LCDR W. S. Newton, USNR13 February 1946 - 31 May 1946
    06LCDR Robert Albert Latka, USN1953
    Courtesy of Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves and R. A. Moody
    View the Defense (MSF 317)
    DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Website
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