View source for USS Chewink (AM-39)

{{short description|Minesweeper of the United States Navy}}
{{other ships|USS Chewink}}

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|Ship country=United States
|Ship flag= {{USN flag|1947}}
|Ship name= USS ''Chewink''
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|Ship builder= Todd Shipyard Corp., [[New York City]]
|Ship laid down=
|Ship launched=21 December 1918
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|Ship commissioned= 9 April 1919, as Minesweeper No.39
|Ship decommissioned=21 August 1933
|Ship reclassified=*AM-39, 17 July 1920
*ASR-3, 12 September 1929
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|Ship recommissioned=12 November 1940
|Ship decommissioned=4 February 1947
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|Ship fate=Sunk as a target off [[New London, Connecticut|New London]], 31 July 1947
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|Ship class= {{sclass|Lapwing|minesweeper}}
|Ship displacement= {{convert|950|LT|t|0|abbr=on}}
|Ship length= {{convert|187|ft|10|in|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship beam= {{convert|35|ft|6|in|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship draft= {{convert|9|ft|9|in|m|abbr=on}}
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|Ship speed= {{convert|14|kn|lk=in}}
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|Ship complement=78
|Ship armament=2 × [[3"/23 caliber gun|{{convert|3|in|mm|abbr=on}}]] guns
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The first '''USS ''Chewink'' (AM-39/ASR-3)''' was a {{sclass|Lapwing|minesweeper}} in the [[United States Navy]]. She was later converted to a submarine rescue ship.

''Chewink'' was launched 21 December 1918 by [[Todd Shipyard]] Corp., [[New York City]]; sponsored by Miss M. Sperrin; and commissioned 9 April 1919. She was reclassified '''ASR-3''' on 12 September 1929.

== North Sea mine clearance operations == 
''Chewink'' sailed from [[Boston, Massachusetts]], 23 May 1919 for [[Kirkwall]], [[Orkney Islands]], arriving 5 July to aid in the vast task of clearing the [[North Sea]] minefields.

== U.S. East Coast operations ==
She returned via [[Lisbon]], the [[Azores]], and [[Bermuda]] to [[New York City|New York]], arriving 19 November, and for the next 11 years operated along the east coast and to [[Cuba]] and [[Puerto Rico]] in a variety of duties, which included salvage, target towing, a school for Naval Engineering, recovering mines, experimental underwater [[radio]] tests, net laying and tending, and tending [[submarines]].

== U.S. West Coast operations ==
In October 1930 she sailed from [[New London, Connecticut]], with Submarine Division 4 for [[Pearl Harbor]], to be stationed there as [[submarine tender]], until 5 January 1931, and then at [[Coco Solo]], [[Panama Canal Zone]] until August 1933. ''Chewink'' was decommissioned at [[Pearl Harbor]] 21 August 1933, remaining there until April 1937, when her berth was changed to [[Mare Island Navy Yard]].

== World War II East Coast operations == 
''Chewink'' recommissioned 12 November 1940, sailed from [[San Diego, California]], 3 February 1941, and on 10 May reached [[New London, Connecticut]], her base through the remainder of her active service. During [[World War II]], she aided America's growing ability to make war beneath the sea as she operated training divers, in [[submarine]] search and rescue exercises, as a station ship, and as a [[target ship]] for submarine [[torpedoes]]. Her operations took her to [[City of Halifax|Halifax, Nova Scotia]], and [[Argentia, Newfoundland]], and several times to [[Key West, Florida]].

== End-of-War decommissioning ==
''Chewink'' was decommissioned at [[Brooklyn, New York]] 4 February 1947. She was used as a target and sunk off [[New London, Connecticut]], 31 July 1947.

== References ==
{{DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/c/chewink-i.html}}

== External links ==
* {{navsource|11/02039|USS Chewink (AM-39)}}
* [http://www.coltoncompany.com/shipbldg/ussbldrs/wwii/boatbuilders/smallauxils/ars.htm Rescue and Salvage Ships] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070711164628/http://www.coltoncompany.com/shipbldg/ussbldrs/wwii/boatbuilders/smallauxils/ars.htm |date=2007-07-11 }}

{{Lapwing class minesweeper}}
{{1947 shipwrecks}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chewink (AM-39)}}
[[Category:Lapwing-class minesweepers]]
[[Category:Ships built in Brooklyn]]
[[Category:1918 ships]]
[[Category:World War I minesweepers of the United States]]
[[Category:World War II auxiliary ships of the United States]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks of the Connecticut coast]]
[[Category:Lapwing-class minesweepers converted to submarine rescue ships]]
[[Category:Ships sunk as targets]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in 1947]]
[[Category:Submarine rescue ships]]