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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

DD-207 / DMS-10 Southard



DMS-10 call sign:
November - Alpha - Juliet - Kilo



Clemson Class Destroyer: Laid down, 18 August 1918 by the William Cramp and Sons Ship and Engine Building Co., Philadelphia, PA; Launched, 31 March 1919; Commissioned USS Southard, Destroyer No. 207, 24 September 1919; Designated DD-207, 17 July 1920; Decommissioned, 7 February 1922 at San Diego, CA; Laid up in the Pacific Reserve Fleet; Recommissioned, 6 January 1930; Reclassified and converted to a High Speed Minesweeper DMS-10, 19 October 1940; Lost due to grounding, September 1945 at Tsuken Shima, Ryukyus Islands, Japan; Decommissioned, 5 December 1945; Struck from the Naval Register, 8 January 1946; Hulk destroyed, 14 January 1946. Southard received 10 battle stars for World War II service.

Specifications: Displacement 1,190 t(lt) , 1,308 t(fl).; Length 314' 4"; Beam 30' 10" ; Draft 9' 10"; Speed 35.8kts; Complement 122; Armament four 4"/50s, one single 3"/23 gun mount, 2 dct; Propulsion, four Yarrow, Thornycroft or White-Forster boilers, two geared turbines, 27,000SHP at 35kts. two shafts.
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Size Image Description Source
Southard 88k Off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 9 June 1942.
US Navy Photo NH 97942.
Naval Historical Center
Southard 91k Off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 9 June 1942.
US Navy Photo NH 97943.
Naval Historical Center
Southard 133k At the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 9 June 1942. Note that she still retains her original four smokestacks and 4"/50 guns. A former sister ship, still fitted as a destroyer, is alongside, at left.
Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives.
US Navy Photo 19-N-30506.
Naval Historical Center
Southard 150k At the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 9 June 1942. Note that she still retains her original 4"/50 guns. Other items visible include her whaleboat and gig, engine room hatches, reels for minesweeping cables, .50 caliber anti-aircraft machineguns mounted on the rear corners of her after deckhouse, depth charge tracks and minesweeping gear on her stern. A former sister ship, still fitted as a destroyer, is alongside, with 20mm anti-aircraft machineguns and torpedo tubes visible.
Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives.
US Navy Photo 19-N-30509.
Naval Historical Center
Southard 78k Photographed from dead ahead, off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 10 June 1942. The actual date of the photo may be 9 June 1942.
Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives.
US Navy Photo 19-N-30507.
Naval Historical Center
Southard 82k Photographed from directly astern, off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 10 June 1942. The actual date of the photo may be 9 June 1942. Note details of her conversion to a fast minesweeper: squared-off triangular transom, with her name visible; sweep gear and davits on the stern; depth charge tracks angled out over the propeller guards; .50 caliber anti-aircraft machineguns at the rear of her after deckhouse.
Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives.
US Navy Photo 19-N-30508.
Naval Historical Center
Southard 84k Off San Francisco, California, 27 May 1943, after overhaul.
US Navy Photo NH 97944.
Naval Historical Center
Southard 67k Off San Francisco, California, 27 May 1943, after overhaul.
US Navy Photo NH 49821.
Naval Historical Center

View the Southard (DMS-10)
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
NavSource Destroyer Pages, USS Southard (DD-207)
Naval Minewarfare Association
Association of Minemen
Back To The Main Photo Index Back To the Mine Warfare Ship Photo Index Back To The High Speed Minesweeper (DMS) Photo Index

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This page created by Gary P. Priolo and maintained by Joseph M. Radigan
© 2003 Joseph M. Radigan © 1996 - 2003 NavSource Naval History. All Rights Reserved.