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Gunboat Photo Archive

Jamestown (AGP 3)



Call sign:
Nan - Baker - Fox - Charlie

ex-PG-55

Patrol Gunboat/Motor Torpedo Boat Tender:

  • Built in 1928 as the steel-hulled yacht Savarona at Pusey and Jones Corp., Wilmington DE
  • Renamed Alder in 1929
  • Acquired by the Navy 6 December 1940 at New York, NY
  • Converted to a Patrol Gunboat at the Fletcher Division Shipyard, Bethlehem Steel Corp., Hoboken, NJ
  • Commissioned USS Jamestown (PG-55), 26 May 1941
  • Reclassified as a Motor Torpedo Boat Tender, AGP-3, 13 January 1943
  • Decommissioned 6 March 1946 at San Francisco, CA
  • Struck from the Naval Register 20 March 1946
  • Transferred to the Maritime Commission for disposal 4 September 1946
    Naval Vessel Register of 1 January 1949 lists transfer to War Shipping Administration as December 1946
  • Sold 16 December 1946 to Belfour and Gutrie and Co., Ltd. of San Francisco, CA
  • Fate unknown.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 2,250 t.
  • Length 294'
  • Beam 38' 2"
  • Draft 16'
  • Speed 15 kts.
  • Complement 259
  • Armament: Two 3"/50 dual purpose gun mounts and six 20mm mounts
  • Propulsion: Two 3,000shp Cooper Bessemer diesel engines, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Yacht Alder
    Jamestown 113k Oil painting by Luca Papaluca Maunsel White
    USS Jamestown (PG 55)
    Jamestown 43k Gunter Krebs
    Jamestown 367k 24 April 1941
    At the Bethlehem Steel Shipyard, Hoboken, NJ for her initial conversion to a naval vessel. Although the ship was acquired in early December 1940, little if any conversion work appears to have been accomplished by late April 1941
    National Archives photo 19-N-23950    		 Original photo: Naval Historical Center
    Replacement photo: Michael Mohl
    Jamestown 307k 24 April 1941
    At the Bethlehem Steel Shipyard, Hoboken, NJ
    National Archives photo from National Museum of the U.S. Navy    		 Michael Mohl
    Jamestown 166k 24 April 1941
    Hoboken, New Jersey, prior to conversion to a Naval vessel. A Norwegian freighter in background, carrying prominent "red cross" colors
    National Archives photo 19-N-23949    		 Mike Green
    Photo added 6 October 2019
    Jamestown 170k Tending PT boats at the New York Navy Yard on 11 October 1941 (PT-37 is in the lower right). Jamestown is unarmed and has few visible military fittings
    National Archives photo 19-N-25720    		 Naval Historical Center
    Jamestown 121k At the New York Navy Yard on 23 July 1942, where she had gone to receive modifications for service in the Pacific
    National Archives photo 19-N-32984
    USS Jamestown (AGP 3)
    Jamestown 26k
    AGP-3 75k c. 1943
    U.S. Navy photo    		 Joe Radigan
    Jamestown 75k Moored to a buoy, probably after completion of the overhaul she received at San Pedro, Calif. between February and July 1944. During this overhaul six 20mm AA guns, visible in the photo, were added to her armament. She is wearing camouflage Measure 31 Design 11P, which was designed for her in June 1944.
    National Archives photo 19-N-70864    		 Naval Historical Center
    Commanding Officers
    01CDR Andrew Petrie Lawton, USN - USNA Class of 1921-A26 May 1941 - 15 October 1942
    02LCDR Charles Black Beasley, USN - USNA Class of 1927
    Awarded the Navy Commendation Ribbon (1942) and the Bronze Star with Combat V (1945) - Retired as Captain    		15 October 1942 - 1 February 1943
    03LCDR Joseph Allen Edward O'Handley, USN - USNA Class of 19301 February 1943 - 27 March 1945
    04LCDR John Charles Dean, USNR27 March 1945 - 6 March 1946
    Courtesy of Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves and Joe Radigan
    View the Jamestown (PG-55)
    DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Website
    Back to the Main Photo Index Back to the Patrol Craft/Gunboat/Submarine Chaser Ship Index Back to the Patrol Gunboat (PG) Photo Index Back to the Auxiliary Ship Index Back to the Motor Torpedo Boat Tender (AGP) Photo Index
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