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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Towhee (AGS 28)
ex-MSF-388
ex-AM-388



Call sign:
November - India - Golf - Hotel
Auk Class Minesweeper:

  • Laid down 21 March 1944 by American Shipbuilding Co., Cleveland, Ohio
  • Launched, 6 January 1945
  • Commissioned USS Towhee (AM-388), 18 May 1945
  • Decommissioned, March 1954 at Orange, TX
  • Laid up in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet, Orange Group
  • Reclassified as a Fleet Minesweeper (Steel Hull), MSF-388, 7 February 1955
  • Converted to a Survey Ship, AGS-28 at Philadelphia, PA
  • Recommissioned 1 April 1964
  • Decommissioned, 30 April 1969
  • Custody transferred to Inactive Ship Facility Vallejo, CA
  • Struck from the Naval Register 1 May 1969
  • Sold for scrap 6 March 1970 to Learner Co. of Oakland, CA.

    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 single 40mm gun mounts, six single 20mm gun mounts, one depth charge thrower (hedgehogs), four depth charge projectiles (k-guns), two depth charge tracks
  • Propulsion: Two 3,532shp 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
    Towhee (AM 388)
    Tanager 14k c. 1953
    Marseille, France
    Left to right: Staff (AM 114), Towhee, Tanager (AM 385) and Tercel (AM 386)    		 Bob Gerety, AM-385 crew member
    Bob's Minesweeper Site
    Towhee 60k . Joe Radigan
    Towhee (AGS 28)
    Towhee 77k . Office of the Oceanographer of the Navy
    Towhee 273k . Roger Brooks, PNCS, USN, Retired
    Crew member 31 December 1964 - 7 January 1966
    Towhee 93k U.S. Navy photo from the June 1968 edition of All Hands magazine Joe Radigan
    Towhee 91k U.S. Navy photo from the February 1969 edition of All Hands magazine Joe Radigan
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    Association of Minemen
    Back To The Main Photo Index Back To the Mine Warfare Ship Photo Index Back to the Fleet Minesweeper (MSF) Photo Index Back to the Auxiliary Ship Photo Index Back to the Survey Ship (AGS) Photo Index
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    This page created by Gary P. Priolo and maintained by Joe Radigan
    © 2006 Gary P. Priolo © 1996 - 2006 NavSource Naval History. All Rights Reserved.