USS Swan (AM-34) - Post-World War I Atlantic Operations

Post-World War I Atlantic Operations

Assigned to Division 2 of Mine Squadron 2 of the Atlantic Fleet, Swan completed final acceptance trials in the spring of 1920 and began routine operations out of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in late June. These operations included buoy work and wreck salvage, and the latter duty is what brought the minesweeper into Cape Cod Bay in November of that year. On 28 November, during an attempt to refloat a wrecked oil barge, heavy seas came up quickly and cast Swan on the beach in Cape Cod Bay. The sudden disaster stranded the minesweeper on the beach and mountainous seas threatened to wreck the stricken ship. Rapid response by the Gurnet Beach Coast Guard crew saved the day, however, and the Coast Guards' heroic efforts brought all fifty-six sailors to safety through breeches buoy and surfboat.

The stranded minesweeper survived the winter on the beach and was refloated on 22 February 1921 and towed to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, for repairs. During that process Swan decommissioned there on 23 May 1922 before being placed in commission again on 23 June 1923. That fall, she was assigned to the Washington Navy Yard but operated out of Quantico, Virginia, where she provided target and other fleet services. By the spring of 1926, Swan changed duty stations again, this time working for the 15th Naval District out of Coco Solo in the Panama Canal Zone. On 30 April 1931, while still in the Canal Zone, she was designated a "minesweeper for duty with aircraft," presaging her later change of designation. She decommissioned again on 21 December 1933, this time at San Diego, California. A little over three months later, on 2 April 1934, the minesweeper was commissioned for the third time and reassigned to the Fleet Air Base at Pearl Harbor. On 22 January 1936, Swan was officially redesignated a small seaplane tender, AVP-7.