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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Aroostook (AK 44)
ex-CM-3
ex-ID-1256

Aroostook Class Minelayer: Laid down at William Cramp and Sons Shipyard, Philadelphia, PA as the passenger steamer SS Bunker Hill; Launched, 26 March 1907; Acquired by the Navy, 12 November 1917; Renamed Aroostook 15 November 1917; Commissioned USS Aroostook (ID 1256), 7 December 1917 at the Boston Navy Yard; Converted to a Mine Planter in 1918; Reclassified as a Minelayer, CM-3, 17 February 1920; Decommissioned, 10 March 1931 at Puget Sound Navy Yard; Reclassified as a Cargo Ship, AK-44, 20 May 1941; Struck from the Navy Register 5 February 1943; Transferred to the Maritime Commission and laid up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, Suisun Bay, Benecia, CA under her former name Bunker Hill; Sold in 1947 to the Seven Seas Trading Company of Hollywood, CA, converted to a floating casino and renamed Lux; Sold for scrap in October 1947.

Specifications: Displacement 3,800 t.; Length 395'; Beam 52' 2'; Draft 16'; Speed 20 kts; Complement 313; Armament one 5"/51, two 3"/50 mounts and two .30 cal. Colt machine guns.

Click on thumbnail
for full size image		 Size Image Description Source
SS Bunker Hill
Aroostook 102k Probably at the Cramp shipyard, Philadelphia, when first completed in 1907.
U.S. Navy photo NH 66052 		Naval Historical Center
Aroostook 47k Possibly photographed in about November 1917, when she was acquired by the Navy.
U.S. Navy photo NH 90614 		Naval Historical Center
Aroostook (ID 1256)
Isabel 87k USS Yacona (SP-617) at the Boston Navy Yard, Massachusetts, circa December 1917, painted in pattern camouflage. Yacht Isabel, then being prepared for service as USS Isabel (SP-521), is on the other side of the pier from Yacona. Steamers in the background are Aroostook (ID 1256), formerly S.S. Bunker Hill and Massachusetts, which became Shawmut (ID 1255).
U.S. Navy photo NH 102576		 Naval Historical Center
Aroostook 86k At the Boston Navy Yard, Massachusetts, 7 June 1918, following conversion to a mine layer. Her sister ship, USS Shawmut (ID 1255), is in the background.
U.S. Navy photo NH 57692 		Naval Historical Center
USS Aroostook (ID 1256)
Aroostook 80k Photographed in 1918.
U.S. Navy photo NH 57693 		Naval Historical Center
Aroostook 78k Seaplane NC-3 taxies past Aroostook in Trepassey Bay, Newfoundland, 15 May 1919. NC-1 is moored at left. Aroostook served as the planes' tender during their May 1919 trans-Atlantic flight attempt.
U.S. Navy photo NH 95777 		Naval Historical Center
Quinnebaug 71k U.S. Navy minelayers proceeding to sea in two columns, in Area Number 2 of the North Sea, September 1918. Ships in the column at left are (from front to rear): Roanoke, Housatonic, Quinnebaug and Baltimore. Ships in column at right are (from front to rear): Canonicus (out of picture, to right), Canandaigua, Aroostook and Saranac.
Photograph from the Army Signal Corps Collection in the U.S. National Archives.
U.S. Army Signal Corps photo 111-SC-43563		 Naval Historical Center
Aroostook 98k In a harbor, circa the early 1920s.
Courtesy of ESKC Joseph L. Aguillard, USNR, 1969.
U.S. Navy photo NH 69311 		Naval Historical Center
Aroostook 86k At anchor, circa the early 1920s.
Collection of Lieutenant Oscar W. Levy, USN (Supply Corps), Retired.
U.S. Navy photo NH 99613 		Naval Historical Center
USS Aroostook (CM 3)
Aroostook 84k Underway at sea, with a Martin SC-2 torpedo plane on her after deck, during the later 1920s.
Collection of Lieutenant Oscar W. Levy, USN (Supply Corps)-Retired.
U.S. Navy photo NH 94166 		Naval Historical Center
Aroostook 139k In a harbor during the 1920s, with a PN-type patrol seaplane on her after deck and another moored off her port side.
U.S. Navy photo NH 99617 		Naval Historical Center
Aroostook 89k In dry dock at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 15 November 1923.
Donation of Mrs. Kelly Green, 1974
U.S. Navy photo NH 82901 		Naval Historical Center
Aroostook 101k At Coco Solo, Panama Canal Zone, 12 January 1924.
Donation of Mrs. Kelly Green, 1974
U.S. Navy photo NH 82794 		Naval Historical Center
Aroostook 67k USS Shenandoah (ZR-1) moored at Naval Air Station North Island, San Diego, California, in October 1924. Aroostook is tied up to the Air Station pier in the upper right, with a storeship (Arctic, Boreas or Yukon) moored in the
channel nearby.
Donation of Lieutenant Gustave J. Freret, USN (Retired), 1972.
U.S. Navy photo NH 80473 		Naval Historical Center
Aroostook 79k Dressed with flags, February 1926.
U.S. Navy photo NH 57694 		Naval Historical Center
Aroostook 102k Ship's Christmas menu for 1926, featuring photographs of the ship and of her Commanding Officer, Commander R.W. Cabaniss, USN.
Collection of Lieutenant Oscar W. Levy, USN (Supply Corps), Retired.
U.S. Navy photo NH 99612 		Naval Historical Center
Aroostook 107k Underway circa 1927, with her crew's bedding airing along the rails forward and amidships.
Photographed by Gustave J. Freret, USN (Retired), 1972.
U.S. Navy photo NH 81276 		Naval Historical Center
Aroostook 109k Anchored in the Hudson River, off New York City, on 2 May 1927. The torpedo plane on her deck (probably a Martin SC-2) is marked "2-T-4" on its upper wing.
U.S. Navy photo NH 81276 		Naval Historical Center
Aroostook 96k In harbor during the 1920s or early 1930s.
Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1969.
U.S. Navy photo NH 67506 		Naval Historical Center
Aroostook 73k U.S. Navy photo 19-N-4351 Hazegray & Underway Web Site
Aroostook 222k Underway in February 1929
Naval Historical Center photo NH 99618 		Robert Hurst
Aroostook (AK 44)
Aroostook 74k At the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, Washington, 18 June 1941, while being dismantled in preparation for an abortive attempt to return her to active Navy service. She had been laid up since March 1931.
Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives.
National Archives photo 19-N-24267 		Naval Historical Center
Aroostook 110k At the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, Washington, 18 June 1941, while being dismantled in preparation for an abortive attempt to return her to active Navy service. She had been laid up since March 1931.
Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives.
National Archives photo 19-N-24272 		Naval Historical Center
Aroostook 88k At the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, Washington, 18 June 1941, while being dismantled in preparation for an abortive attempt to return her to active Navy service. She had been laid up since March 1931.
Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives.
National Archives photo 19-N-24273 		Naval Historical Center
View the Aroostook (CM-3)
DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Web Site.
Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
Naval Minewarfare Association
Association of Minemen
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