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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Toucan (MSF 387)
ex-AM-387



Call sign:
November - India - Golf - Echo


Toucan served the Navies of the United States and the Republic of China
Auk Class Minesweeper:

  • Laid down 16 February 1944 by the American Shipbuilding Co., Cleveland, OH
  • Launched 15 September 1944
  • Commissioned USS Toucan (AM-387), 25 November 1944
    Naval Vessel Register of 1 January 1949 lists plan for decommissioning and placing in reserve as December 1945
  • Placed out of commission, in reserve, 1 July 1946 at San Diego, CA
  • Recommissioned 27 October 1950
  • Reclassified as a Fleet Minesweeper (Steel Hull), MSF-387, 7 February 1955
  • Decommissioned 1 May 1957 and assigned to the Pacific Reserve Fleet, Columbia River Group
  • Withdrawn from the Reserve Fleet 27 May 1964 for conversion
  • Struck from the Naval Register 1 July 1964
  • Transferred to the Republic of China 22 December 1964 and renamed Chien Men (PCE 45)
  • Sunk by boats from mainland China 6 August 1965.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 890 t.
  • Length 221' 1"
  • Beam 32' 2"
  • Draft 10' 9"
  • Speed 18.1 kts.
  • Complement 117
  • Armament: One 3"/50 dual purpose gun mount, two 40mm gun mounts, six 20mm gun mounts, one depth charge projector (hedgehog), four depth charge projectors (K-guns) and two depth charge tracks
  • Propulsion: Four 1,000shp General Motors 12-278A diesel electric drive engines, Westinghouse single reduction gear, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    USS Toucan (AM 387)
    Toucan 37k Namesake: Toucan - A brightly colored and easily tamed bird of the American tropics. It is characterized by its large but thin beak Tommy Trampp
    Toucan 52k Historical Collection of the Great Lakes
    Toucan 110k 24 November 1944
    At fitting out pier, Cleveland, Ohio    		 Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships
    Toucan 237k Inscription on back of photo:
    Navy Branch Public Relations Office
    1100 Chester Avenue
    Cleveland, Ohio
    Lt. E. L. Wilson, USNR
    Release for PM Papers
    Monday December 11, 1944

    The USS TOUCAN, one of two Cleveland and Lorain built 220 foot minesweepers which were rushed to completion in November to "beat the ice" through the St. Lawrence River. Captain Edward Ellsberg, USNR, Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Cleveland, told workers who built the ship that they had performed a "production miracle." The ships were built in the yards of the American Ship Building Company

    		 David Wright
    Toucan 129k c. 1945
    Photo added 16 January 2022
    Toucan 22k c. February 1945
    U.S. Navy photo    		 Hyperwar U.S. Navy in WWII
    Toucan 134k c. 1945
    The framed embroidered lining from the peacoat of Quartermaster Sid Van Der Ploeg    		 Sharon Guinta (née Van Der Ploeg)
    Chien Men (PCE 45)
    PCE-45 35k P. Han
    Commanding Officers
    01LCDR Stephen Henry Squibb, USNR25 November 1944 - 5 November 1945
    02LCDR Raymond Leonard Johnson, USNR5 November 1945 - 1 July 1946
    03LT Douglas John Jackson, USN1951
    04LCDR Alfred George Russillo, USN - USNA Class of 1944
    Awarded the Legion of Merit (1968)    		1951 - August 1952
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves, Merle C. Williams, Scott Slocum, R. A. Moody and Joe Radigan
    View the Toucan (MSF 387)
    DANFS history entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway website
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