COMANDANTE PEDRO CAMPBELL (A24)

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aukepalmhof
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COMANDANTE PEDRO CAMPBELL (A24)

Post by aukepalmhof » Wed Sep 01, 2021 9:19 pm

Built as a minesweeper under yard No 172 by the Defoe Shipbuilding Co., in Bay City. Mich. For the American Navy.
1 August 1941 keel laid down.
20 July 1942 launched as the USS CHICKADEE (AM-59) one of the Auk-class. She was named after the CHICKADEE one of the tamest and most familiar of North American birds
Displacement 890 empty, 1,300 ton full loaded. Dim. 67.4 x 9.78 x 3.38m.
Powered: Diesel-electric by 4 diesel engines. 3,532 shp. twin shafts, speed 18 knots.
Armament 1- 3 inch gun, 2 – 40mm guns, 2 –Oerlikon 20mm cannons, and 2 – depth charge tracks.
Crew 105.
09 November 1942 commissioned.

CHICKADEE (AM-59) was launched 20 July 1942 by Defoe Boat and Marine Works, Bay City, Mich.; sponsored by Mrs. G. B. Coale; commissioned 9 November 1942, Lieutenant Commander G. B. Coale, USNR, in command; and reported to the Atlantic Fleet.
Between 15 February and 4 May 1943 CHICKADEE voyaged from Norfolk to Casablanca on convoy escort duty, then participated in an antisubmarine search and escorted coastwise convoys until 19 June. CHICKADEE sailed out of Norfolk and New York as an escort for vessels sailing to Iceland or the Caribbean between 7 July 1943 and 2 March 1944.
CHICKADEE cleared Charleston, S.C., 7 April for Milford Haven, Wales, arriving 12 May. For the remainder of the month, the minesweeper engaged in training exercises for the coming invasion of Europe. Arriving off Normandy on 5 June 1944 CHICKADEE swept fire support channels into Baie de la Seine and throughout the various assault areas along the French coast. She performed her hazardous duties under enemy shore fire on several occasions but escaped with only minor damage from the shrapnel and no casualties. The ship assisted in the rescue of survivors from Osprey (AM-56) and LST-133 and towed damaged LST-133 to safety.
CHICKADEE continued to operate off the coast of France, with frequent visits to British ports, until 1 August 1944 when she departed Plymouth for Naples. After arriving in Italian waters on 12 August, she swept in Bonifacio Straits until 23 August when she sailed to Baie de la Cavalaire, France, for sweeping operations during the invasion of southern France. Between 29 August and 2 October, she swept the harbor of Marseilles and conducted antisubmarine patrol off that port.
During October and November 1944 CHICKADEE carried out a visual search for mines south of San Remo, Italy, and, after a brief overhaul at Palermo, Sicily, returned to sweeping duty throughout the Mediterranean, operating out of Cannes, Nice, Leghorn, Palermo, Malta, and Corsica. On 31 May 1945, she cleared Oran, Algeria, for Norfolk, arriving 15 June.
After a lengthy overhaul, CHICKADEE sailed from Norfolk 18 September 1945 for the Pacific, reaching San Pedro, Calif., 10 October. On 26 November she sailed for Astoria, Oreg., where she was placed out of commission in reserve 15 May 1946. Her classification was changed to MSF-59, 7 February 1955.
CHICKADEE received two battle stars for World War II service.
01 August 1976 stricken
http://www.hazegray.org/danfs/mine/am59.htm
On 18 August 1966, with the pending closure of Naval Station Astoria, Oregon, and the disestablishment of the Astoria Reserve Fleet, CHICKADEE was transferred to the Uruguayan Navy and was renamed ROU COMANDANTE PEDRO CAMPBELL (MSF-1), in honor of Peter Campbell, the founder of the Uruguayan Navy. It arrived in Uruguay on 3 October 1966. The CAMPBELL was later renumbered MS-31, and on 23 November 1979 was reclassified as a corvette with a pennant number/hull number of C-4. The ship commenced a major overhaul on 1 October 1986, which was completed by December 1989. With her armament removed, the ship was redesignated as an Antarctic and Oceanographic Support Vessel, pennant number/hull number A-24, in May 1990.
On January 15, 1991, the departure of ROU 24 PEDRO CAMPBELL was carried out in its first Antarctic naval mission, becoming the first logistics supply ship of the Artigas Antarctic Scientific Base, commanded by the then Frigate Captain (CG) Julio Dodino.
Decommissioned on 18 March 2003, the ship was struck from the Uruguayan Navy Register on 12 December 2003 and was used as a training hulk at the Navy's "Escuela de Especialidades" training facility at Montevideo for damage control training and abandon ship drills. She was finally scrapped in 2005 with over 63 years of service. In coordination with the US naval attache to Uruguay, her steel was recycled for the construction of a new Uruguayan naval vessel.

Source: Department of Public Relations - Uruguayan Antarctic Institute (IAU) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_CHICKADEE_(AM-59)
Uruguay 2021 $75 sgMS?, Scott? See also viewtopic.php?f=2&t=13426
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2021 PEDRO CAMBELL First-Uruguayan-Mission-to-Antarctica-30th-Anniversary (2).jpg
2021 PEDRO CAMBELL First-Uruguayan-Mission-to-Antarctica-30th-Anniversary (2).jpg (61.17 KiB) Viewed 496 times

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