USS Limpkin (AMc-48)
USS Limpkin (AMc-48) was an Accentor-class coastal minesweeper acquired by the U.S. Navy for clearing coastal minefields.
| History | |
|---|---|
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| Builder: | Greenport Basin and Construction Company |
| Laid down: | 24 February 1941 |
| Launched: | 5 April 1941 |
| Commissioned: | 8 August 1941 |
| Decommissioned: | 15 April 1946 |
| Stricken: | 1 May 1946 |
| Fate: | sold in 1947 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 185 tons |
| Length: | 97 ft 1 in (29.59 m) |
| Beam: | 22 ft (6.7 m) |
| Draft: | 9 ft (2.7 m) |
| Propulsion: | one 400bhp Cooper Bessemer G.N.-DR-6 diesel engine, one shaft |
| Speed: | 10 kts |
| Complement: | 17 |
| Armament: | two .50 cal (12.7 mm) machine guns |
The first ship to be named Limpkin by the Navy, AMc-48 was laid down 24 February 1941 by Greenport Basin and Construction Company, Long Island, New York; launched 5 April 1941; sponsored by Miss Elsie Thornhill; and placed in service 8 August 1941.
World War II service
Following shakedown off Yorktown, Virginia, the new coastal minesweeper reported to the 3rd Naval District, New York City, 9 August. After the United States entered World War II. Limpkin and her sister-minesweepers assumed responsibility for keeping crucial New York Harbor clear. For 2 years the ship swept shipping channels that extended fingerlike from Manhattan to open water, permitting unprecedented amounts of war material to be shipped to the European theater to support the Allied war effort.
Transferred to the 5th Naval District
Transferred to the 5th Naval District 18 December 1943, Limpkin shifted homeport to Norfolk, Virginia. For the rest of the war, she operated at the mouth of Chesapeake Bay, protecting the approaches to that vital center of Allied naval power.
Post-war decommissioning
Limpkin was placed out of service 15 April 1946 and struck from the Navy list 1 May 1946. She transferred to the Maritime Commission 13 January 1947. Late in the year she was sold to W. E. Lewis, Inc., of Fleeton, Virginia; renamed Hiawatha; and placed in service as a commercial trawler. She was subsequently renamed Blue Waters.
References
- This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.