Figure 1: USS Osprey (AM-56) underway circa April 1941, probably while running trials. Note that her bow numbers have been freshly painted out. Photograph was received from the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, Virginia, in 1972. Official US Navy Photograph from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 2: USS Osprey (AM-56) off the Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Virginia, 19 April 1941. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the US National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 3: USS Osprey (AM-56) off the Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Virginia,19 April 1941. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the US National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 4: USS Osprey (AM-56) off the Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Virginia, 19 April 1941. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the US National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.
Named after a large, hawk-like bird, USS Osprey (AM-56) was an 810-ton Raven class minesweeper that was built by the Norfolk Navy Yard at Norfolk, Virginia, and was commissioned on 16 December 1940. The ship was approximately 220 feet long and 32 feet wide, had a top speed of 18 knots, and had a crew of 105 officers and men. Osprey was armed with two 3-inch guns, two 40-mm gun mounts, and two depth-charge tracks.
After being commissioned, Osprey was assigned to coastal patrol and escort duties off the east cost of the United States and in the Caribbean. She performed these tasks for almost two years until she was ordered to cross the Atlantic and participate in the Allied amphibious landings in Morocco, which took place in November 1942. Osprey assisted in directing and protecting the waves of landing craft that moved towards Port Lyautey, Morocco, during the invasion. After the amphibious landings were completed, Osprey conducted numerous anti-submarine patrols off Casablanca, Morocco, before being sent back to the United States.
For the balance of 1943 and well into 1944, Osprey was assigned to coastal escort duty while based at Norfolk. On 3 April 1944, Osprey left the United States and steamed to England to become part of operation “Overlord,” the invasion of Europe. Along with other ships in her minesweeping unit, Osprey successfully conducted minesweeping operations off Tor Bay, England. The date set for the actual Normandy landings was 6 June 1944. But on the evening of 5 June, while sweeping a path across the English Channel for the other ships in the invasion force to follow, Osprey hit a German mine. The crew on board the ship managed to put out the fires caused by the explosion, but the damage from the mine blast was just too severe for the ship to survive. Osprey sank later that night in the English Channel.
USS Osprey was the first US Navy warship lost during the invasion of Normandy.
