USS Merganser (AM-135)

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Career USN Jack
Built as: Trawler Annapolis
Built: 1937
Acquired by the U.S. Navy As: Ocean
Acquired by the U.S. Navy: 3 January 1942
Renamed: Merganser 18 January 1942
Commissioned: 23 May 1942
Decommissioned: 1 May 1944
Struck: 16 September 1944
Fate: Sold to former owner, renamed Ocean
General characteristics
Class: Commercial trawler
Displacement: 500
Length: 133'7"
Beam: 26'1"
Draft: 12'8"
Speed: 10 k
Complement: Varied
Armament: 2 .50 cal. mg., 2 dcp., 2 6 pdr

The first USS Merganser (AM-135) was a minesweeper in the United States Navy during World War II. She was named for the duck, merganser.

Originally the trawler Annapolis, Merganser was built in 1937 by the Bethlehem Steel Corp., Quincy, Massachusetts; acquired by the U.S. Navy as Ocean through Maritime Commission requisition purchase from the General Sea Foods Corp., Boston, Massachusetts, 3 January 1942; renamed Merganser 18 January 1942; converted by Bethlehem Steel Atlantic Works, East Boston, Massachusetts; and commissioned 23 May 1942, Lt. A. S. Johnson, USNR, in command.

Contents

[edit] World War II East Coast Assignment

Assigned to the 1st Naval District, Merganser operated from the Woods Hole Section Base, patrolling the waters off New England, until February 1944.

[edit] Deactivation at War’s End

She then proceeded to Boston, Massachusetts, for inactivation, decommissioning there 1 May. She was struck from the Naval Register 16 September, and on the 29th transferred to the Maritime Commission. She was subsequently sold to her former owner and renamed Ocean.

[edit] References

This article includes text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.

[edit] See also

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