USS Gannet (AM-41)
 Gannet in 1937
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| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | USS Gannet (AM-41) |
| Namesake | the gannet bird |
| Builder |
|
| Laid down | 1 October 1918 |
| Launched | 19 March 1919 |
| Sponsored by | Edna Mae Fry |
| Commissioned | 10 July 1919 |
| Reclassified | Small Seaplane Tender AVP-8, 22 January 1936 |
| Fate | Torpedoed by U-653 northwest of Bermuda 7 June 1942 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Lapwing-class minesweeper |
| Displacement | 950 tons |
| Length | 187 ft 10 in (57.25 m) |
| Beam | 35 ft 6 in (10.82 m) |
| Draft | 9 ft 10 in (3.00 m) |
| Propulsion | One 1,400 shp Harlan & Hollingsworth Corp. Vertical triple expansion steam engine, one shaft. |
| Speed | 14 knots (26 km/h) |
| Complement | 72 |
| Armament | 2 machine guns |
USS Gannet (AM-41) was an Lapwing-class minesweeper built for the United States Navy near the end of World War I.
Gannet was laid down 1 October 1918 by the
New York Navy Yard
10 July 1919.
Post-World War I operations
Gannet departed
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. A unit of the Train, Pacific Fleet, she based at San Diego and was subsequently assigned to Aircraft Squadron, Battle Fleet, and later to Base Force, U.S. Fleet. Serving primarily as a tender to aircraft squadrons, she also performed towing, transport, and passenger service along the western seaboard, and made periodic cruises as tender to aircraft units participating in Army-Navy exercises, fleet problems, and maneuvers off Hawaii, the Panama Canal, and in the Caribbean Sea
.
She spent the summer months of 1926, 1929, and 1932-35 as tender to aerial survey expeditions to
minesweeper
for duty with aircraft. She was reclassified AVP-8, 22 January 1936.
U.S. East Coast operations
Gannet departed
Argentia
ferry flight before returning to Norfolk 11 November.
World War II Atlantic Theatre operations
Gannet was tending patrol planes on the
US Naval Operating Base (containing a flying boat air station), when the Japanese struck Pearl Harbor.[1][2] She returned to Norfolk, Virginia, 12 December and sailed 21 January 1942 for Bermuda again to serve as tender to Patrol Squadron 74 (VP-74), which provided air patrol and coverage in approaches to that base (Bermuda had long served as the headquarters, main base and dockyard of the America and West Indies Station of the Royal Navy, and was a forming-up location of trans-Atlantic convoys in both world wars; with convoys formed there during the Second World War coded BHX and merging with convoys formed at Halifax coded HX before crossing the Atlantic as fewer escorts were required for one large convoy than for two small ones). Gannet also was communication center for all aircraft
operations in that area.
Torpedoed by German submarine
Departing
torpedoes from U-653.[3][4] She went down so rapidly that her decks were awash within 4 minutes, and she carried 16 of her crew down with her. Unaware of what had befallen Gannet, Sumar returned to Bermuda alone. Twenty-two of Gannet's crew were rescued by two planes of VP-74 which made the daring landing in heavy seas. USS Hamilton
, led to the scene by one of the same planes, rescued 40 others.
Gannet was removed from the
Navy List
, but the date is not known.
References
- ISBN 9781927750322.
- ISBN 9780969833246.
- ^ Wiberg, Eric (30 November 2014). "USS Gannet sunk by U-653/Feiler N of Bermuda, escort HMS Sumar abandoned her, 62 men rescued by 2 planes and USS Hamilton, taken Bermuda". ericwiberg.com. Eric Wiberg. Retrieved 2021-05-24.
- ^ Uboat.net - Allied Warships - USS Gannet (AVP-8), Lapwing class
- This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
External links
- Photo gallery of Gannet at NavSource Naval History
- AVP -- Small Seaplane Tenders. Archived 2007-10-18 at the Wayback Machine
- Ships of the U.S. Navy, 1940-1945 - AV -- Seaplane Tenders Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine
 United States Navy(minesweepers) |
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| United States Navy (rescue and salvage ships) | |
survey ships ) | |
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