US NAVY SHIPS

USS Tanager (AM-385, later MSF-385), 1945-1963.
Served as USCGC Tanager (W-385, later WTR-885), 1963-1972

USS Tanager, an 890-ton Auk class minesweeper, was built at Lorain, Ohio. Commissioned in late July 1945, she operated along the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf coasts for most of her active career. Tanager deployed twice to the Mediterranean Sea for duty with the Sixth Fleet, once in 1951-1952 and again in 1953. She was decommissioned in December 1954 and laid up at Orange, Texas. The following February, during a general revision of U.S. Navy mine warfare ship nomenclature, she was redesignated MSF-385.

In October 1963 the Navy transferred Tanager to the U.S. Coast Guard. Modified for service as a training ship and numbered W-385 (soon changed to WTR-885), she was recommissioned as USCGC Tanager in July 1964. The ship's active Coast Guard service lasted until February 1972. Later in that year she was sold. Renamed Eagle, she operated for several more decades as a private yacht.

This page features all the views we have concerning USS Tanager (AM-385, later MSF-385) and USCGC Tanager (WTR-385, later WTR-885).

Photo #: NH 47192 USS Tanager (AM-385) Photographed circa 1945. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Online Image: 69 KB; 900 x 635 pixels
Photo #: NH 107427 USS Tanager (AM-385) Underway, circa 1946-1947. Courtesy of the U.S. Naval Institute Photo Collection. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph Online Image: 85 KB; 900 x 740 pixels

The following photograph shows Tanager after her transfer to the U.S. Coast Guard:

Photo #: NH 88071 USCGC Tanager (WTR-385). Formerly USS Tanager (AM/MSF-385) Photographed in early or mid-1964, just prior to her commissioning as a Coast Guard cutter. Courtesy of Stephen S. Roberts, 1978. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph Online Image: 87 KB; 900 x 735 pixels

For higher resolution images see: Obtaining Photographic Reproductions

To the best of our knowledge, the pictures referenced here are all in the Public Domain, and can therefore be freely downloaded and used for any purpose.