USS Pelican (AM-27)
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| History | |
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| Name: | USS Pelican |
| Builder: | Gas Engine and Power Co., Morris Heights, New York |
| Laid down: | 10 November 1917 |
| Launched: | 12 June 1918 |
| Commissioned: | 10 October 1918, as Minesweeper No.27 |
| Decommissioned: | 30 November 1945 |
| Reclassified: |
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| Struck: | 19 December 1945 |
| Fate: | Sold for scrap, November 1946 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Lapwing-class minesweeper |
| Displacement: | 840 long tons (853 t) |
| Length: | 187 ft 10 in (57.25 m) |
| Beam: | 35 ft 5 in (10.80 m) |
| Draft: | 8 ft 10 in (2.69 m) |
| Speed: | 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph) |
| Complement: | 85 |
| Armament: | 2 × 3 in (76 mm) guns |
USS Pelican (AM-27/AVP-6) was an Lapwing-class minesweeper acquired by the United States Navy for the dangerous task of removing mines from minefields laid in the water to prevent ships from passing.
Pelican was laid down 10 November 1917 at Gas Engine and Power Co., Morris Heights, New York; launched 12 June 1918; sponsored by Miss E. B. Patterson; and commissioned 10 October 1918, Lt. (j.g.) G. E. McHugh, USNR, in command.
Upon completion of fitting out, she sailed for Scotland on 6 April 1919, to assist in the sweeping of the North Sea Mine Barrage. Arriving 20 April, she and other minesweepers immediately went to work in sweeping mines.
During this service Pelican's naval career almost ended when it had hardly begun. While sweeping several mines, one of them exploded underneath her hull causing her to take on a great amount of water and slowly settle by the head. Despite heavy seas, and threat of imminent sinking, Pelican's crew, with the assistance of two of her sister ships, and after 19 hours of effort, managed to bring the badly damaged vessel into port at Scapa Flow for temporary repairs.
The 9th of July, however, proved a momentous day. Exploding mines damaged three minesweepers, the tug Patuxent, and a subchaser. Again sweeping in company with USS Eider (AM-17), USS Auk (AM-38) shuddered under the impact of an explosion at 0925 that, in turn, countermined another mine 25 yards off her starboard bow; in a chain reaction, a third explosion (probably caused by the second) rolled the sea 30 yards astern, carrying away the sweep and resulting in the loss of a "kite" and 70 fathoms of precious wire as well. But all these mishaps proved but a preliminary to what transpired soon thereafter.
At 1000, an upper level mine exploded beneath Pelican, which in turn triggered five simultaneous countermines around her. The little ship disappeared in a veritable cloud of spray that, when it subsided, revealed Pelican- heavily hit, battered, and holed-assuming a list before beginning to settle. As the seemingly mortally wounded minesweeper wallowed in the swells, Auk, immediately altered course to close Pelican.
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