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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Pigeon (ASR 6)

Call sign (1924):
Nan - Item - King - Fox

ex-Minesweeper No. 47

Call sign (1919):
George - Boy - Dog - Vice

Sunk 4 May 1942

Lapwing Class Minesweeper:

Laid down 15 June 1918 by the Baltimore Dry Dock and Shipbuilding Co., Baltimore, Maryland

Launched 29 January 1919

Commissioned USS Pigeon (Minesweeper No. 47), 15 July 1919

Designated AM-47, 17 July 1920

Decommisisoned 25 April 1922 at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

Recommissioned 13 October 1923

Reclassified a Submarine Rescue Ship, ASR-6, 12 September 1929

Sunk 4 May 1942 by a Japanese dive bomber off Corregidor, Philippines.

Specifications:

Displacement 950 t.(lt) 1,009 t.(fl)

Length 187' 10"

Beam 35' 6"

Draft 9' 9"

Speed 14 kts.

Complement 72

Armament: One 11-pounder and two machine guns

World War II - Two 3"/50 dual purpose gun mounts and two 20mm gun mounts

Propulsion: One 1,400shp Harlan and Hollingsworth, vertical triple-expansion steam engine, one shaft.

Click on thumbnail for full size image	Size	Image Description	Source
Pigeon (Minesweeper No. 47)
	89k	29 January 1919 Sliding down the ways. Photo from the November 1954 issue of All Hands magazine.	Joe Radigan
	82k	In port, 7 July 1919, at about the time she was delivered to the Navy. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives. U.S. Navy photo 19-N-2260	Naval Historical Center
USS Pigeon (AM 47)
	223k	In Chinese waters, circa the later 1920s, showing modifications made to fit her as a gunboat for use on the Yangtze River. Courtesy of Alfred Cellier, 1977 U.S. Navy photo NH 85732	Original photo: Naval Historical Center Replacement photo: Robert Hurst
	92k	In a Chinese port, circa the later 1920s, after she had been modified for use as a gunboat on the lower Yangtze River. Courtesy of the U.S. Naval Institute, Annapolis, Maryland, 1969 U.S. Navy photo NH 68209	Naval Historical Center
	121k	Minesweepers laid up at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Territory. View taken circa 1922 or somewhat later, showing several minesweepers laid up in reserve at the end of 1010 Dock. Identifiable ships at left include USS Oriole (AM-7), with USS Pigeon (AM-47) inboard of her. USS Pelican (AM-27) is the outboard ship in the center U.S. Navy photo NH 45242-A
	142k	Minesweepers laid up at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Territory. View taken circa 1922 or somewhat later, showing several minesweepers laid up in reserve at the end of 1010 Dock. Identifiable ships at left include USS Oriole (AM-7) outboard, with USS Pigeon (AM-47) inboard of her. USS Pelican (AM-27) is the outboard ship in the center. U.S. Navy photo NH 45243-A
	117k	c. 1929 Photo from the November 1954 edition of All Hands magazine.	Joe Radigan
USS Pigeon (ASR 6)
	282k	Photo courtesy of Lieutenant George Knuepfer, USN	Ron Reeves
	91k	S-40 (SS-145) alongside Pigeon (ASR-6), at Shanghai, China in 1932. Photographed by Gustave J. Freret, Jr., USN U.S. Navy Photo NH 51815	Naval Historical Center
	138k	In Cam Ranh Bay, Indochina, July 1939. Photograph from the New York Times Paris Bureau collection in the U.S. National Archives. U.S. Navy photo 306-NT-508E	Naval Historical Center
	45k	c. September 1939 Seen here as ASR-6 grounded by a typhoon. US Navy Photo	Submitted by Fred Reep to National Association of Fleet Tug Sailors
	54k	2 September 1939 She went aground 31 August 1939	James D. McGrew
	65k
	60k
	75k	"High and dry", after she ran aground during a typhoon at Tsingtao, China, September 1939. Collection of Jack L. Wheat.. U.S. Navy photos NH 99674 and NH 99675	Naval Historical Center
	74k
	74k	Undergoing refloating operations after she ran aground during a typhoon at Tsingtao, China, September 1939. Short range battle targets are hung amidships. Collection of Chief Torpedoman John Vieira, USN (Retired). U.S. Navy photo NH 99696
	74k	On the beach after she ran aground during a typhoon at Tsingtao, China, September 1939. Collection of Chief Torpedoman John Vieira, USN (Retired). U.S. Navy photo NH 99697
	74k	Photographed during salvage operations, after she ran aground during a typhoon at Tsingtao, China, September 1939. Collection of Chief Torpedoman John Vieira, USN (Retired). U.S. Navy photo NH 99698
	16k	1 October 1939 Finch (AM 9) towing Pigeon free after she had run aground. The craft on the left is unknown. Photo taken from the deck of the Augusta [CA 31].	James D. McGrew
	352k	.	Gary Priolo
	366k	14 May 1942 Associated Press article	Ron Reeves

Commanding Officers
01	LT William Carl Procknow, USN	15 July 1919
02	LT Carl Ludvig Hansen, USN	26 January 1922 - 25 April 1922
03	LCDR John Martin Ashley, USN	13 May 1924
04	LCDR Anthony John James, USN	25 June 1924
05	LCDR Elwin Fisher Cutts, USN	13 April 1923 - 20 June 1925
06	CDR Raymond Foss Frellsen, USN	20 June 1925 - 21 July 1927
07	CDR Charles Edwin Reordan, USN	21 July 1927 - January 1928
08	LT Charles Edward Coney, USN	4 January 1928 - 22 June 1928
09	LT Harold Jackson Bellingham, USN	22 June 1928 - 11 June 1930
10	LCDR Thomas Edward Flaherty, USN	11 June 1930 - 1932
11	LT John Ambrose Hollowell, Jr., USN	14 February 1935
12	LT Daniel Joseph Sweeney, USN	13 April 1935
13	LT Eugene Brownlow Oliver, USN	16 September 1932 - 14 August 1937
14	LT Warren Bell Sampson, USN	14 August 1937 - 2 October 1939
15	LT George Joseph King, USN	2 October 1939 - 12 February 1940
16	LCDR Richard Ellington Hawes, USN - Awarded two Navy Cross' (1926/1941)	12 February 1940 - 5 January 1942
17	LCDR Frank Alfred Davis, USNR - Awarded the Navy Cross (1941) and posthumously awarded the Legion of Merit (1944)	5 January 1942 - 4 May 1942


Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves

View the Pigeon (AM-47)
DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Website

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