Engineering:USS Nourmahal (PG-72)

From HandWiki
History
United States
Name: Nourmahal
Builder: Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft, Kiel
Launched: 1928
Out of service: Acquired by the United States Coast Guard on 21 March 1940
History
United States
Name: USCGC Nourmahal
Acquired: 21 March 1940
Commissioned: 21 August 1940
Decommissioned: 30 May 1946
In service: Returned to Coast Guard on 29 December 1943
Out of service:
  • Acquired by the United States Navy on 3 March 1942
  • Transferred on 16 June 1943
History
US
Name: USS Nourmahal
Acquired:
  • 3 March 1942
  • Transferred from the Coast Guard on 16 June 1943
Commissioned: 9 April 1943
In service: Returned to the Navy in May 1947
Out of service: Returned to the Coast Guard on 29/31 December 1943
Struck: 12 January 1944
Fate:
  • Up for disposal on 18 July 1948
  • Sold for scrap on 11 September 1964
General characteristics
Type: Gunboat
Displacement:
  • 2,250 long tons (2,290 t) (1941)
  • 3,200 long tons (3,300 t) (1945)
Length: 263 ft 10 in (80.42 m)
Beam: 41 ft 6 in (12.65 m)
Draft: 18 ft 5 in (5.61 m)
Propulsion:
  • Two 3,200hp Sulzer Brothers 6-cylinder diesel engines
  • two shafts
Speed: 15 kn (17 mph; 28 km/h)
Complement:
  • 107 (1941)
  • 111 (1945)
Armament:
  • 1941
  • 2 × 4"/50 gun mounts
  • 6 × .50 cal (12.7 mm) machine guns
  • 8 × .30 cal (7.62 mm) machine guns
  • 2 × depth charge tracks
  • 1945
  • 2 × 4"/50 gun mounts
  • 6 × 20 mm mounts
  • 8 × .30 cal. machine guns
  • 2 × depth charge tracks
  • 4 × depth charge projectors
  • 2 × mousetraps
Notes: Call sign NRMW [1]

USS Nourmahal (PG-72) was a gunboat used by the United States Coast Guard and United States Navy during the Second World War.

Construction

The Nourmahal was originally built as a yacht for multi-millionaire Vincent Astor in 1928 at Krupp Iron Works in Kiel, Germany. This was the third Astor family yacht to bear the name, replacing a smaller Nourmahal designed by Cox & Stevens, Inc. and built by Robert Jacob Shipyard, City Island NY., launched March, 1921.[2][3] Astor was the heir to a large New York real estate fortune after his father, John Jacob Astor IV, died aboard the RMS Titanic in 1912.

Second World War

With the outbreak of the Second World War, Nourmahal was acquired by the Coast Guard on 21 March 1940 and was commissioned USCGC Nourmahal (WPG-72) on 21 August 1940. Nourmahal was acquired 3 March 1942 by the Navy from Astor under a bareboat charter agreement under which the vessel was to be operated by the Coast Guard under Navy ownership.[4] Nourmahal was designated (PG-72) 9 April 1943 and purchased by the Navy for $1,000,000 under an option of the charter on 25 June 1943 (29 June in DANFS).[5] She was returned to the Coast Guard on 29 December 1943 and reclassified as WPG-122 and was struck from the Naval Register on 12 January 1944.[4]

Post war

Nourmahal was decommissioned on 30 May 1946 and returned to Navy custody in May 1947.

Nourmahal was transferred to the Maritime Administration for disposal on 18 July 1948 and, after several advertisements with no bids accepted the ship remained in the James River Fleet until sold for scrap on 11 September 1964 to Hughes Brothers, Inc. of Hampden, Maine for $27,502.[5] The ship was withdrawn from the fleet on 24 September 1964 for scrapping.[5]

Awards

  • American Defense Service Medal
  • American Campaign Medal
  • World War II Victory Medal

References

  1. SemperParatus.com U.S. Coast Guard Cutter (USCGC) by Noun Name http://semperparatus.com/cutter_names_n-z.htm Retrieved: 26 July 2015
  2. MacKay, Robert B. (2014). Great Yachts of Long Island's North Shore. Charleston, S.C.: Arcadia Publishing. p. 33. ISBN 978-1-4671-2152-1. https://books.google.com/books?id=FgGbAwAAQBAJ&lpg=PA33&ots=DO6DBGoPtV&dq=Yachts%201922%20Nourmahal&pg=PA33#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved January 3, 2018. 
  3. "The City Island Yacht". City Island Nautical Museum. http://www.cityislandmuseum.org/assets/the-city-island-yacht.pdf. Retrieved January 3, 2018. 
  4. 4.0 4.1 "Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS): Nourmahal". Naval History and Heritage Command. https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/n/nourmahal.html. Retrieved January 3, 2018. 
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 "NOURMAHAL (PG-72/WPG-72/WPG-122)". MARAD Vessel History Database; Status Cards. https://www.marad.dot.gov/sh/ShipHistory/Detail/3644. Retrieved January 3, 2018. 

Sources