USS Auk (AM-38)
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c. 1935 Aleutian Islands, Alaska
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| History | |
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 United States
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| Ordered: | as Minesweeper No. 38 |
| Cost: | $594,332 (hull and machinery) |
| Laid down: | 20 June 1918 |
| Launched: | 28 September 1918 |
| Commissioned: | 31 January 1919 |
| Struck: | 28 January 1947 |
| Fate: | Abandoned, Puerto Cabello, Venezuela |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 950 long tons (970 t) |
| Length: | 187 ft 10 in (57.25 m) |
| Beam: | 35 ft 6 in (10.82 m) |
| Draught: | 9 ft 9 in (2.97 m) (mean) |
| Propulsion: | triple expansion reciprocating steam engine, one shaft |
| Speed: | 14 knots |
| Complement: | 82 |
| Armament: | two .30-cal (7.62 mm) Lewis guns |
USS Auk (AM-38) was an Lapwing-class minesweeper acquired by the U.S. Navy after World War I for the task of removing mines that had been placed during the war.
The first ship to be named Auk by the Navy, Minesweeper No. 38 was laid down on 20 June 1918 at New York City by the Todd Shipyard Corp.; launched on 28 September 1918; sponsored by Miss Nan McArthur Beattie daughter of a Todd Shipyard foremen, and commissioned at the New York Navy Yard on 31 January 1919, Lt. Gregory Cullen in command.
Between World War I and World War II, Auk was converted into a survey ship for the Coast and Geodetic Survey, and was renamed USS Discoverer (ARS-3) as well as USC&GS Discoverer.
Upon completion of her initial fitting out and dock trials, Auk proceeded to Tompkinsville, Staten Island, on the afternoon of 24 February reporting to Minesweeping Division, 3d Naval District. On 2 March, Auk sailed for Newport, Rhode Island, in company with USS Curlew (AM-8) (Minesweeper No. 8) and arrived there the next morning. Returning to the Mine Sweeping Base at New York on the morning of the 6th, Auk left New York waters the following afternoon, bound for Boston, Massachusetts.
The minesweeper, rolling and pitching heavily as the winds and seas rose, was proceeding on her coastwise voyage when, in the predawn darkness of the 0000-0400 watch on 8 March, men in the crews' compartment detected water entering their space at an alarming rate. While some of the crew bailed doggedly, others rigged a "handy billy", and, later, a wrecking pump, in an effort to cope with the flooding. With water coming on board faster than it could be removed the ship sought refuge.
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