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Design and development

Prior to the United States entering World War II, they had produced two ships of the Raven-class minesweeper for testing and evaluation. From these two examples it was decided that the use of diesel-electric engines to power the ship and the minesweeping equipment, rather than separate geared diesel engines to propel the ship and diesel generators to energize the minesweeping equipment, would work better. The Royal Navy placed an order for 32 of these minesweepers from the United States, BAM-1 - BAM-32. Because of the additional equipment, the displacement was raised from 810 long tons (820 t) on the Ravens, to 890 long tons (900 t) on what would come to be known as the Auk class in the USN, and the Catherine class in the RN.¹

The Auk class displaced 890 long tons, with a length of 221 ft 1 in (67.39 m), a beam of 32 ft 2 in (9.80 m), and a draft of 10 ft 9 in (3.28 m). They had a maximum speed of 18.1 kn (33.5 km/h; 20.8 mph). The Auks armament varied. All were equipped with a single 3-inch (76 mm) gun on the bow, but many had their aft 3-inch gun removed or replaced by two 40 mm (1.57 in) Bofors guns. Originally designed with four 20 mm (0.79 in) Oerlikon cannons, some ships mounted as many as eight.²

Five manufacturers provided the diesel-electric engines used in the class. These included the Cleveland Diesel Engine Division of General Motors, Cooper Bessemer, Baldwin Locomotive Works, the American Locomotive Company (ALCO), and Busch-Sulzer.³

Twenty of the original 32 ships ordered by the Royal Navy were delivered, with an additional two coming from the USN program. They were given "J" pennant number prefixes. Of these twenty-two, three were sunk in action and 19 were returned to the US after the war.⁴

Eleven minesweepers of the Auk class were lost in World War II, six to direct enemy action including USS Skill, torpedoed by U-593.⁵

Construction

The ships were constructed in 11 different shipyards, by 10 different companies, in 9 different states.⁶

• American Ship Building Company, Lorain, Ohio
• American Ship Building Company, Cleveland, Ohio
• Associated Shipbuilders, Puget Sound, Washington
• Defoe Shipbuilding Company, Bay City, Michigan
• General Engineering & Dry Dock Company, Alameda, California
• Gulf Shipbuilding, Madisonville, Louisiana
• John H. Mathis & Company, Camden, New Jersey
• Norfolk Navy Yard, Norfolk, Virginia
• Pennsylvania Shipyards, Inc., Beaumont, Texas
• Savannah Machine & Foundry, Savannah, Georgia
• Winslow Marine Railway and Shipbuilding Company, Puget Sound, Washington

List of ships

Royal Navy Catherine-class minesweepers

US Navy Auk-class minesweepers

See also

• Admirable-class minesweeper
• Agile-class minesweeper
• Classes of U.S. Navy minesweepers

Bibliography

• Lenton, H.T. (1974). American Gunboats and Minesweepers. Macdonald and Jane's. ISBN 0356080641.
• Chesneau, Roger (2001). Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1922-1946. Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0851771467.
• "Ocean Minesweepers (AM) Built or Acquired through WWII". 18 April 2015. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
• "NavSource photo archive: index of mineSweepers". NavSource.

Further reading

• "Allied Warships Minesweepers Auk class". Uboat.net.

References

1. Lenton 1974, p. 33. - Lenton, H.T. (1974). American Gunboats and Minesweepers. Macdonald and Jane's. ISBN 0356080641. ↩

2. Chesneau 2001, p. 150. - Chesneau, Roger (2001). Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1922-1946. Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0851771467. ↩

3. Navsource. - "NavSource photo archive: index of mineSweepers". NavSource. http://www.navsource.org/archives/11/02idx.htm ↩

4. Lenton 1974, pp. 33–39. - Lenton, H.T. (1974). American Gunboats and Minesweepers. Macdonald and Jane's. ISBN 0356080641. ↩

5. Lenton 1974, pp. 33–39. - Lenton, H.T. (1974). American Gunboats and Minesweepers. Macdonald and Jane's. ISBN 0356080641. ↩

6. Shipbuilding. - "Ocean Minesweepers (AM) Built or Acquired through WWII". 18 April 2015. Retrieved 10 August 2022. http://shipbuildinghistory.com/smallships/minesweepers1.htm ↩