USS Swan (AM-34)
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| History | |
|---|---|
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| Name: | USS Swan |
| Builder: | Alabama Dry Dock & Shipbuilding Co., Mobile, Alabama |
| Laid down: | 10 December 1917 |
| Launched: | 4 July 1918 |
| Commissioned: | 31 January 1919, as Minesweeper No.34 |
| Decommissioned: | 13 December 1945 |
| Reclassified: |
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| Struck: | 8 January 1946 |
| Honours and awards: |
1 battle star (World War II) |
| Fate: | Transferred to the Maritime Commission, 12 October 1946 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Lapwing-class minesweeper |
| Displacement: | 950 long tons (965 t) |
| Length: | 187 ft 10 in (57.25 m) |
| Beam: | 35 ft 6 in (10.82 m) |
| Draft: | 9 ft 9 in (2.97 m) |
| Speed: | 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph) |
| Complement: | 72 |
| Armament: |
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The first USS Swan (AM-34/AVP-7) was a 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.
Swan, a minesweeper, was laid down at Mobile, Alabama, on 10 December 1917 by the Alabama Dry Dock & Shipbuilding Co.; launched on Independence Day 1918; sponsored by Miss Hazel Donaldson; and commissioned at New Orleans, Louisiana, on 31 January 1919, Lt. (jg.) Fredman J. Walcott, USNRF, in command.
Almost immediately, Swan prepared to sail to Scotland, to participate in clearing the huge North Sea Mine Barrage laid in 1918 to prevent warships and submarines of German High Seas Fleet from breaking out into the Atlantic. Assigned to Division Five, North Sea Minesweeping Detachment, Swan arrived at Kirkwall, Scotland, with the first wave of twelve minesweepers on 20 April 1919. Under the command of Rear Admiral Joseph Strauss, who broke his flag in tender Black Hawk (Destroyer Tender No. 9), the minesweepers began operations out of Inverness Firth nine days later.
Their task was monumental, as the American minesweepers (in company with modified sub chasers and British minesweepers) were tasked with sweeping over 70,000 mines laid in an area roughly 240 miles (390 km) long by 25 miles (40 km) wide, or over 6,000 square miles (16,000 km2). Swan conducted mine sweeping operations for the next five months, spending 108 of those days at sea. Some diversion from the grueling, dangerous work was provided by the thousands of fish killed by the exploding mines, which providing an abundance of cod and herring for the Mine Detachments' cooks. Sailing for home on 1 October, the detachment made stops at Devonport, England; Brest, France; Lisbon, Portugal; the Azores; and Bermuda; before arriving in New York on 20 November.
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