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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Oglala (ARG 1)



Call sign:
Nan - Peter - Xray - Uncle

ex-Oglala (CM 4)
ex-Shawmut (CM 4)
ex-Shawmut (ID 1255)
ex-Massachusetts (ID 1255)

Aroostook Class Minelayer:

  • Built in 1907 as Massachusetts by William Cramp and Sons Shipyard, Philadelphia, PA
  • Acquired by the Navy 31 October 1917
  • Commissioned USS Massachusetts (ID 1255), 7 December 1917
    (1921 edition of Ships' Data, U.S. Naval Vessels listed commissioning date as 7 January 1918)
  • Renamed Shawmut 7 January 1918
  • Converted to an Aviation Tender after World War I
  • Reclassified as a Minelayer, CM-4 in 1920
  • Renamed Oglala 1 January 1928
  • Lost to enemy action, 7 December 1941 at Pearl Harbor, HI
  • Refloated and placed "in ordinary" status
  • Reclassified as an Internal Combustion Engine Repair Ship, ARG-1, 21 May 1943
  • Placed in full commission, 28 February 1944
  • Decommissioned, 11 July 1946 at San Francisco CA.
  • Struck from the Navy Register 12 July 1946
  • Transferred to the Maritime Commission, 12 July 1946
  • Sold for scrap in November 1965 to Joffe Brothers Shipbreaking Yard of Richmond, CA.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 3,746 t.
  • Length 386' 4"
  • Length between perpendiculars 375'
  • Beam 52' 2'
  • Draft 18' 6"
    1921 - 16'
  • Depth of hold 31' 7"
  • Speed 17 kts.
  • Complement 407
    1921 - 425
  • Armament: One 3"/50 dual purpose mount and two machine guns
    1944 - One 5"/38 dual purpose mount, four 3"/50 dual purpose mounts and two twin 40mm mounts
  • Propulsion: Three 180psi saturated steam White-Forster boilers (1921 - Eight single ended cylinderical boilers), two 3,500ihp Cramp vertical-triple expansion engines, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full fize image    		 Size Image Description Source
    SS Massachusetts
    Oglala 137k Shown after she was purchased and remodelled by the Eastern Steam Ship Corporation in 1912
    Donation of Captain Stephen S. Roberts, USNR, (Retired) 2008
    Naval Historical Center photo NH 105646-KN    		 Robert Hurst
    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 USS Shawmut (ID 1255).
    U.S. Navy photo NH 102576    		 Naval Historical Center
    USS Shawmut (ID 1255)
    Shawmut 110k At the Boston Navy Yard, Massachusetts, 4 June 1918, following conversion to a mine layer. Her sister ship, USS Aroostook (ID 1256), is in the background.
    Naval Historical Center photo NH 41959    		 Robert Hurst
    Shawmut 140k Ship's officers and men posed on board at Inverness, Scotland, in September 1918, after having subscribed 100% on the first day of the Fourth Liberty Loan drive.
    From the collection of Eugene J. Grow
    U.S. Navy photo NH 50492    		 Naval Historical Center
    Canonicus 125k U.S. Navy Mine Layers steaming in line abreast during the laying of the North Sea mine barrage, September 1918. Analysis of camouflage patterns indicates that these ships are (from front to rear): USS Roanoke (ID 1695); USS Housatonic (ID 1697); USS Shawmut (ID 1255); USS Canandaigua (ID 1694); USS Canonicus (ID 1696); with USS Quinnebaug (ID 1687) and USS Saranac
    (ID 1702)     in the left and right center distance. A four-stack British cruiser is in the left distance.
    U.S. Navy photo NH 61101
    Shawmut 96k Operating at sea in October 1918, during the laying of the North Sea mine barrage. The ship is painted in a disruptive camouflage scheme.
    U.S. Navy Photo NH 42398
    Shawmut 102k U.S. Atlantic Fleet at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, 6 April 1919. Shawmut, is in the center, and USS Henley (Destroyer # 39), at right.
    Naval Historical Center photo NH 79529    		 Robert Hurst
    USS Shawmut (CM 4)
    Shawmut 358k Nest of four destroyers alongside Shawmut. Maury (DD 100) and Mahan (DD 102) are the outboard ships.
    U.S. Navy photo M-31 DD CM-4    		 Darryl Baker
    Mahan 37k USS Mahan (DM 7) still wearing her DD hull number and Shawmut in Cuba in 1919-1920. Both have Curtiss H-16 flying boats alongside
    Photo DD 102-Shawmut Cuba 1920 from collection of the Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum
    Shawmut 105k At Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in January 1920. A Curtiss N-9 aircraft (Bureau No. A2636) is on the water by her stern and another is resting on her after deck. A "Sea Sled" and motor launch are tied up along her starboard side.
    Courtesy U.S. Naval Institute photo collection
    U.S. Navy photo NH 78226    		 Naval Historical Center
    Shawmut 138k c. 1920
    U.S. Navy photo from the March 1969 edition of All Hands magazine    		 Joe Radigan
    Shawmut 39k c. 1920 Robert Hurst
    Shawmut 125k In the Caribbean area, April 1924.
    U.S. Navy photo NH 42399    		 Naval Historical Center
    Shawmut 191k c. 1924
    S-16 (SS-121) & next to her is possibly the S-50 (SS-161) with another unknown S-boat and four unidentified R-boats alongside their tender, Shawmut probably in the Panama Canal area.
    National Archives photo 80-G-1024884    		 Original Photo: Daniel Dunham
    Replacement photo: Ron Titus
    Oglala 274k 11 March 1925
    San Diego Bay
    From the collection of Benetta Buell    		 David Buell
    Oglala 154k c. 1925
    U.S. Navy and Marine Corps Museum/Naval Aviation Museum photo No.2008.142.001.068    		 Mike Green
    Shawmut 89k In the Hudson River, New York, with YO-5 alongside, 2 May 1927
    U.S. Navy photo NH 43613    		 Naval Historical Center
    Shawmut 128k USS Holland (AS-3) with submarines alongside at San Diego, c. 1927--USS Langley (CV-1) appears at North Island with Shawmut (CM-4) astern of the carrier. The nearest destroyer on the left is USS Edsall (DD 219).
    U.S. Navy photo NR&L (Mod) 19972    		 Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships
    Oglala 67k 9 January 1928
    Hampton Roads, VA
    U.S. Marines loading boxes of cartridges on Oglala which is about to leave for the fighting zone in Nicaragua
    International Newsreel photo    		 Tommy Trampp
    Oglala 71k 10 January 1928
    Hampton Roads, VA
    U.S. Marines of the 11th Regiment boarding Oglala at the Naval Base for service in Nicaragua
    International Newsreel photo 415995
    Oglala 166k c. 1929
    U.S. Navy photo from the February 1969 edition of All Hands magazine    		 Joe Radigan
    USS Oglala (CM 4)
    Shawmut 94k Circa late 1920s, soon after she was refitted with new boilers and a single smokestack. Note pine trees suspended from her jack staff and foremast yards. USS Overton (DD-239) is among the destroyers visible in the left background.
    U.S. Navy photo NH 60281    		 Naval Historical Center
    Shawmut 230k c. August 1940
    National Archives photo 80-G-279320    		 Tracy White
    Oglala 70k Alongside the Pearl Harbor Supply Depot, 17 September 1941
    National Archives photo 19-N-25593 from the Bureau of Ships Collection    		 Naval Historical Center
    Oglala 68k Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawaii. Aerial view, looking west, with the supply depot in upper center, 13 October 1941. Part of the Submarine Base is at lower left; the Navy Yard is in the upper left; and Ford Island is in the top right. USS Holland is at left, at the Submarine Base. Alongside her are submarines Sturgeon (SS-187), Spearfish (SS-190), Saury (SS-189), Seal (SS-183) and Sargo (SS-188). USS Niagara (PG-52) is alongside the wharf, ahead of Holland. Ships docked at the supply depot, upper center, are Oglala and the S.S. Maui. Among the ships at the piers in the extreme upper left are USS Indianapolis (CA-35), USS San Francisco (CA-38) and USS Antares (AG-10). The two battleships moored by Ford Island, in upper right, are (left) USS Oklahoma (BB-37) and (right) USS Arizona (BB-39).
    National Archives photo 80-G-451131
    Avocet 335k 7 December 1941
    Position of Oglala and other ships at Pearl Harbor.
    Map courtesy of National Geographic Book Division    		 Joe Radigan
    Oglala 105k At the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard, following completion of salvage and initial repairs, circa December 1942. Oglala left Pearl Harbor for the west coast 23 December of that year
    U.S. Navy photo NH 61896    		 Naval Historical Center
    USS Oglala (ARG 1)
    Oglala 78k Oglala (ARG-1) in Southwestern Pacific area, circa 1944. She is painted in camouflage Measure 32, Design 6d
    U.S. Navy photo NH 97422    		 Naval Historical Center
    Oglala 69k Seen here as rebuilt (ARG-1), c. 28 February 44 to 11 July 45
    U.S. Navy photo    		 -
    Oglala 24k . Hyperwar U.S. Navy in World War II
    Oglala 112k ex-Oglala (ARG 1) being scrapped at the Joffe Brothers Shipbreaking Yard, Richmond, CA, 3 December 1965.
    U.S. Navy photo NH 44582 by LT J. R. Shackleton, USNR    		 Naval Historical Center
    Commanding Officers
    01CAPT Wat Tyler Cluverius, Jr., USN - USNA Class of 1896
    Awarded the Navy Distinguished Service Medal (1918)
    Retired as Rear Admiral    		7 December 1917
    02CAPT George Washington Steele, Jr., USN4 February 1919 - 1920
    ??CAPT Harry Lerch Brinser, USN - Retired as Rear AdmiralJuly 1925 - May 1927
    08CDR William Satterlee Pye, USN - USNA Class of 1901
    Awarded the Navy Cross (World War I)
    Retired as Vice Admiral    		1928
    09CAPT George Tilford Pettengill, USN - Retired as Rear Admiral1930 - 5 June 1930
    10CDR Paul Earnest Speicher, USN5 June 1930 - June 1932
    15CDR John Walter McClaran, USN - USNA Class of 1911
    Awarded the Navy Cross (1917)
    Retired as Rear Admiral    		1938
    ??CDR E. P. Speight, USNDecember 1941
    ??CDR R. E. Krause, USNDecember 1941
    ??LCDR H. K. Bradford, USN.
    ??LCDR A. Nelson, USN.
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves
    View the Oglala (CM 4) Salvage Operation Photos
    View the Oglala (CM-4)
    DANFS history entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway website
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    Naval Minewarfare Association
    Association of Minemen
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