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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Gavia (AM 363)



Call sign:
Nan - How - Zebra - Fox

ex-PCE-907


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

  • Laid down 8 July 1943 as PCE-907 by the Willamette Iron and Steel Corp., Portland, Oregon
  • Launched 18 September 1943
  • Reclassified as a Minesweeper, AM-363, 27 September 1943
  • Commissioned USS Gavia (AM 363), 23 July 1945
  • Demilitarized 19 March 1946 at Subic Bay, Philippines
  • Decommissioned 29 May 1946 at Shanghai, China, turned over to the State Department, Foreign Liquidation Commission for transfer to Republic of China Maritime Customs and renamed Yung
    Chun (AM 52)
  • Struck from the Naval Register 19 July 1946
  • Decommissioned and struck from the Chinese Navy list 1 July 1962
  • Fate unknown.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 945 t.
  • Length 184' 6"
  • Beam 33'
  • Draft 9' 9"
  • Speed 14.8 kts.
  • Complement 104
  • Armament: One 3"/50 dual purpose gun mount, two twin 40mm gun mounts, six 20mm gun mounts, one depth charge projector (hedgehogs), four depth charge projectors (k-guns), and two depth
    charge tracks
  • Propulsion: Two 855shp Busch Sulzer 539 diesel engines, Farrel-Birmingham single reduction gear, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Gavia 107k Namesake: Gavia. Any of several fish-eating diving birds including the common loon
    Photo added 23 June 2020    		 Tommy Trampp
    Gavia 205k c. 1945
    Commanding Officers
    01LT Kenneth Paul Billhardt, USNR23 July 1945
    02LT George Albert Scott, Jr., USNR19 September 1945
    03LT Hal "M" Winner, USN20 December 1945 - 29 May 1946
    Courtesy of Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves and R. A. Moody
    View the Gavia (AM 363)
    DANFS history entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway website
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