Please report any broken links or trouble you might come across to the Webmaster. Please take a moment to let us know so that we can correct any problems and make your visit as enjoyable and as informative as possible.

NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

USCGC Menemsha (WAG-274)
ex
 USS Menemsha (AG-39) (1941 - 1943)

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Precedence of awards is from left to right
American Campaign Medal - World War II Victory Medal

USS Menemsha (AG-39) was manned by the US Coast Guard during World War II
Steel-hulled cargo ship:
  • Built in 1918 as SS Lake Orange at McDougall-Duluth Co., Duluth, MN.
  • Acquired by the Buffalo Steamship Corp, Buffalo, N.Y, renamed John Gehm
  • Acquired by the Maritime Commission from her owners, Bison Steamship Corp., in 1941
  • Acquired by the Navy 19 September 1941
  • Renamed Menemsha (AG-39), 15 October 1941
  • Converted for Naval service as a weather patrol ship at Maryland Drydock Co., Baltimore, MD.
  • Commissioned USS Menemsha (AG-39), under loan to the U.S. Coast Guard, 20 January 1942
  • Decommissioned, date unknown
  • Transferred to the US Coast Guard, re-commissioned USCGC Menemsha (WAG-274), 22 October 1943
  • Struck from the Naval Register, 30 October 1943
  • Decommissioned by the Coast Guard, 24 September 1945
  • Laid up, 30 August 1946, in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, James River Group, Lee Hall, VA.
  • Final Disposition, sold for scrapping, 22 December 1950, to Patapsco Scrap Co. for $65,090.00 (PD-X-502) in a two ship sale, withdrawn, 21 March 1951
    Specifications:
    Displacement 2,580 t.
    Length 261'
    Beam 43' 6"
    Draft 20' 3"
    Speed 10 kts.
    Compliment 58
    Armament
    one single 4"/50 gun mount
    four single .30 cal. machine guns
    two depth charge projectors
    Propulsion
    one triple expansion reciprocating steam engine
    single propeller, 1,200shp
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		Size Image Description Source
    USS Menemsha (AG-39)
    BB-40 New Mexico 783k USS Menemsha (AG-39) being assisted out of her berth by the harbor tug YT-213 at Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, VA., 31 December 1941. In the foreground is the battleship USS New Mexico (BB-40) Across the pier from Menemsha is the new destroyer USS O'Brien (DD-415). She would be torpedoed by the Japanese submarine IJNS I-15 on 15 September 1942 and sank 19 October 1942 while en route to Pearl Harbor for repairs.
    US Navy photo # 2611 (42)    		 Pieter Bakels
    Menemsha
    US National Archives (RG-19-LCM). Photo No. 19-N-27270    		 72k USS Menemsha (AG-39) near Baltimore, MD., 22 January 1942, two days after commissioning. As a weather reporting ship this vessel lost all of its cargo handling booms and most of its rig. The round structure aft was for inflating and launching weather balloons.
    US National Archives (RG-19-LCM). Photo No.'s 19-N-27270 and 19-N-27268, US Navy Bureau of Ships photos now in the collections of th US National Archives, courtesy Shipscribe.com.    		 Robert Hurst
    Menemsha
    US National Archives (RG-19-LCM). Photo No. 19-N-27268    		 82k
    Gemini 157k Berthed at the Bethlehem Steel East Boston piers, 7 August 1942, are from left to right; USS Matinicus (AK-52), USS Manasquan (AG-36) and USS Menemsha (AG-39) during their weather ship duty. At right is USAT Acadia. This was a week before Matinicus was renamed Gemini.
    Photo # NPS 14314 A US Navy photo now in the collections of NPS Charlestown Navy Yard    		 John Chiquoine
    USCGC Menemsha (WAG-274)
    Menemsha 287k Overhead starboard side view of USCGC Menemsha (WAG-274) underway, 27 October 1943, photographed by blimp from ZP-14.
    US National Archives Photo # 80-G-87188 a US Navy photo now in the collections of the US National Archives    		 Mike Green
    Menemsha 144k USCGC Menemsha (WAG-274) at the Coast Guard Yard, Curtis Bay, MD., 29 October 1943, for conversion to an Armed Guard training ship one week after her transfer from the Navy
    US Coast Guard Historian's Office photo # unknown, courtesy Shipscribe.com.    		 Robert Hurst
    Menemsha
    26-G-21003    		 143k USCGC Menemsha (WAG-274) underway, 13 January 1944, after completing her conversion to an Armed Guard training ship. Unlike her sister converted earlier at the same yard, this vessel retained her original bulwarks with large limber holes in her well decks.
    US Coast Guard Historian's Office photos # (at NARA) 26-G-21003 and unknown, courtesy Shipscribe.com.    		 Robert Hurst
    Menemsha
    Unknown    		 132k
    USS Menemsha (AG-39)
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation - Navy Log
    Back To The Main Photo Index Back To The Service Force Ship Type Index Back To The Miscellaneous (AG) Photo Index
    Comments, Suggestions, E-mail Webmaster.
    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
    All pages copyright NavSource Naval History
    Last Updated 19 July 2019