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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Weehawken (CM 12)



Call sign:
Nan - Charlie - Jig - George
Salem Class Minelayer:

  • Laid down in 1920 as the Car Ferry SS Estrada Palma by William Cramp and Sons Shipbuilding Co., Philadelphia, PA for the Florida East Coast Car Ferry Company
  • Aquired by the Navy 15 June 1942
  • Renamed Weehawken 18 July 1942
  • Commissioned USS Weehawken (CM-12), 30 September 1942
  • Ran aground off Okinawa in October 1945 during Typhoon Louise and damaged beyond repair
  • Decommissioned 11 December 1945
  • Struck from the Naval Register 3 January 1946
  • Destroyed in February 1946.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 6,525 t.
  • Length 350'
  • Beam 57'
  • Draft 17' 6"
  • Speed 12 kts.
  • Complement 290
  • Armament: Three 3"/50 dual purpose mounts and four 20mm mounts
  • Propulsion: Two boilers, two 2,700shp Cramp vertical triple-expansion engines, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    SS Estrada Palma
    Weehawken 115k Key West, FL
    Photo from the Heritage House Collection, donated by the Campbell, Poirier and Pound families
    Courtesy of Florida Keys Public Libraries    		 Robert Hurst
    Weehawken 109k c. 1920's/1930's
    Photo from Shipscribe.com    		 Mike Green
    USS Weehawken (CM 12)
    Weehawken 102k 7 October 1942
    Near the New York Navy Yard soon after completing conversion. Her forward superstructure was modified much more extensively during conversion than was that of her sister
    Salem [CM 11]
    National Archives photo 19-N-35208    		 Robert Hurst
    Weehawken 59k 5 March 1943
    The eight tracks visible at Weehawken's stern gives an idea of her capacity
    U.S. Navy photo from the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships
    Weehawken 79k 5 March 1943
    Near the New York Navy Yard. Alterations during a just-completed overhaul are circled by hand in black ink on this otherwise attractive print.
    National Archives photo 19-N-42592 from Shipscribe.com
    Weehawken 161k c. 1943
    U.S. Navy photo    		 Joe Radigan
    Weehawken 112k 29 April 1944
    Near the New York Navy Yard.
    National Archives photo 19-N-67246 from Shipscribe.com    		 Robert Hurst
    Weehawken 196k Aerial photo of Weehawken at Norfolk on 29 April 1944, in camouflage Measure 32/2m taken by NAS Norfolk. The colors are dull black, ocean gray and light gray
    National Archives photos 80-G-229567 and 80-G-229569, courtesy of C. Lee Johnson, Ships of the U.S. Navy in WWII “Dazzle” Camouflage    		 Mike Green
    Weehawken 192k
    Commanding Officers
    01LCDR Robert Edwin Mills, USNR30 September 1942 - 8 February 1944
    02CDR Walter Patrick Wrenn, Jr., USNR8 February 1944 - 1 November 1945
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves
    View the Weehawken (CM-12)
    DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Website
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