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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Minesweeper No. 38 / AM-38 Auk /ARS-3 Discoverer


Auk served the Navies of the United States and Venezuela.

Lapwing Class Minesweeper: Laid down, 20 June 1918 at Todd Shipyard Corp., New York City, NY; Launched, 28 September 1918; Commissioned USS Auk, Minesweeper No. 38, 31 January 1919 at New York Navy Yard; Designated (AM-38), 17 July 1920; Transferred to the Coast and Geodetic Survey, 7 April 1922, renamed Discoverer; Returned to the US Navy, 26 August 1941; Renamed and reclassified a Rescue and Salvage Ship Discoverer (ARS-3), placed in-service with a civilian crew; Withdrawn from service (date unknown); Struck from the Naval Register, 28 January 1947; Turned over to the Maritime Commission for disposal; Sold to J. W. Rumsley, Norland, WA, 9 June 1947 or sold to Venezuela, renamed Felipe Larrazabel (R-11); Decommissioned by Venezuela, 1962. Fate unknown.

Specifications: Displacement 840 t.; Length 187' 10"; Beam 35' 5"; Draft 8' 10"; Speed 14 kts; Complement 85; Armament two 3"/50s; Propulsion 1,400shp Harlan and Hollingsworth vertical triple-expansion steam engine, one shaft.
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Size Image Description Source
Auk 205k Auk (Minesweeper No. 38), in heavy seas en route to Bermuda, attempting to take on fuel from Black Hawk (Destroyer Tender No. 9), 10 November 1919. Note Auk's hull number (38) painted on her bow and on her stack, and the weathered remains of the ship's single letter code, from her service in the North Sea mine clearance operation, visable beneath her bow number.
US Navy photo NH 45252
DANFS
Auk 46k Seen here as C&GS Ship Discoverer -
Flamingo 85k Coast and Geodetic Survey Ships Guide (in foreground, ex-Flamingo [AM 32]) and Discoverer. Taking on fuel from USS Chester (CA 27) at Dutch Harbor, Unalaska Island, Alaska, 4 July 1939. NOAA Photo Library, NOAA Central Library; C&GS Season's Report Eickelberg 1939-32.

View the Auk (AM-38)
DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Web Site. The main archive for the DANFS Online Project.

Crew Contact And Reunion Information
U.S.Navy Memorial Foundation
Fleet Reserve Association

Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
Naval Minewarfare Association
Association of Minemen
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