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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIPS --

USS Oglala (CM-4, later ARG-1), 1917-1965.
Originally named Massachusetts (ID # 1255). Renamed Shawmut (ID # 1255, later CM-4) in 1918.
Previously S.S. Massachusetts (American Coastal Freighter & Passenger Steamer, 1907)

USS Shawmut, a 3,746-ton minelayer, was originally built at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1907 as the fast coastal freighter Massachusetts. Later rebuilt as a coastal passenger liner, in 1917 she was purchased by the Navy for conversion to a minelayer. The ship was commissioned in December 1917 as USS Massachusetts and renamed Shawmut (ID # 1255) a month later. She steamed to Great Britain in June 1918 and spent the rest of World War I helping to plant the great anti-submarine mine barrage across the North Sea.

In December 1918, Shawmut returned to the U.S. Through the next two decades, she served as an aircraft tender and minelayer, receiving the hull number CM-4 in 1920. To avoid verbal confusion with USS Chaumont (AP-5), she was renamed Oglala in January 1928. At about the same time, she was given new boilers and other modifications, changing her appearance from two smokestacks to one.

Despite many recognized deficiencies resulting from her civilian origins and advanced age, Oglala served as the Fleet's principal minelayer into the early 1940s. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, she suffered underwater damage from nearby bomb and torpedo explosions, gradually rolled onto her port side and sank. Salvaged and given interim repairs during 1942, she left Hawaii for the west coast late in the year. Through 1943 and into 1944, the old ship was permanently repaired and converted to an internal combustion engine repair ship. She was redesignated ARG-1 in May 1943 and recommissioned at the end of February 1944.

After arriving at Milne Bay, New Guinea, in April 1944, Oglala began tending patrol, mine and landing craft. She shifted her base to Hollandia, New Guinea, in July and to Leyte, Philippine Islands, in December 1944. Returning the the U.S. west coast in early 1946, Oglala was decommissioned in July of that year and transferred to Maritime Commission custody. She remained in reserve until September 1965, when she was sold for scrapping.

This page features selected views of USS Oglala, USS Shawmut and S.S. Massachusetts, and provides links to other views showing the ship during and after the 7 December 1941 Pearl Harbor raid.

For other views of USS Oglala, see:

  • USS Oglala during the Pearl Harbor Attack, 7 December 1941; and
  • USS Oglala Salvage, 1942.


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

    Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

    Photo #: NH 105646-KN

    S.S. Massachusetts
    (American coastal steamer, 1907)

    Shown after she was purchased and remodeled by the Eastern Steamship Corporation in 1912.
    The postcard bearing this image was postmarked at New York on 25 August 1914 by a passenger who had apparently become seasick on the passage from Boston, Massachusetts. This ship became the minelayer USS Shawmut (ID # 1255) in 1917 and was renamed USS Oglala in 1928.

    Donation of Captain Stephen S. Roberts, USNR (Retired), 2008.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 96KB; 740 x 475 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 42398

    USS Shawmut (ID# 1255)


    Operating at sea in October 1918, during the laying of the North Sea mine barrage.
    The ship is painted in a disruptive camouflage scheme.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 99KB; 740 x 525 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 78226

    USS Shawmut (CM-4)


    At Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in January 1920. A Curtiss N-9 aircraft (Bureau # A2636) is on the water by her stern and another is resting on her after deck. A "Sea Sled" and motor launch are tied up along her starboard side.

    Courtesy of the U.S. Naval Institute Photo Collection.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 95KB; 740 x 610 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 42399

    USS Shawmut (CM-4)


    In the Caribbean area, April 1924.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 117KB; 740 x 580 pixels

     
    Photo #: 80-G-1024884

    USS Shawmut
    (CM-4)

    At anchor with seven "S" and "R" class submarines alongside, circa the mid-1920s.
    Location is probably Christobal, Panama Canal Zone.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

    Online Image: 85KB; 740 x 615 pixels

    Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

    Note:
    The original caption identifies this ship as USS Aroostook (CM-3). However, the searchlight on her foremast, and other details, confirm that she is actually Shawmut.

     
    Photo #: NH 43613

    USS Shawmut (CM-4)


    In the Hudson River, New York, with YO-5 alongside, 2 May 1927.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 83KB; 740 x 590 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 60281

    USS Oglala (CM-4)


    Photographed circa the late 1920s, soon after she was refitted with new boilers and a single smokestack.
    Note pine trees suspended from her jackstaff and foremast yards.
    USS Overton (DD-239) is among the destroyers visible in the left background.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 86KB; 740 x 575 pixels

     
    Photo #: 19-N-25593

    USS Oglala (CM-4)


    Alongside the Pearl Harbor Supply Depot, 17 September 1941.

    Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives.

    Online Image: 65KB; 740 x 540 pixels

    Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

     
    Photo #: NH 97422

    USS Oglala (ARG-1)


    Photographed in the Southwestern Pacific area, circa 1944.
    She is painted in camouflage Measure 32, Design 6d.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

    Online Image: 70KB; 740 x 585 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 50492

    USS Shawmut (ID# 1255)


    Ship's officers and men posed on board at Inverness, Scotland, in September 1918, after having subscribed 100% on the first day of the Fourth Liberty Loan drive.

    Collection of Eugene J. Grow.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 89KB; 740 x 525 pixels

     
    Photo #: KN-32031 (Color)

    "The Japanese Sneak Attack on Pearl Harbor"

    Charcoal and chalk by Commander Griffith Bailey Coale, USNR, Official U.S. Navy Combat Artist, 1944.
    For more information on this artwork, see:
    Photo # KN-32031 (complete caption).

    Courtesy of the U.S. Navy Art Center, Washington, D.C.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph.

    Online Image: 73KB; 900 x 300 pixels

    Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system as Photo # 428-KN-32031

     
    Photo #: NH 61896

    USS Oglala (CM-4)


    At the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard, following completion of salvage and initial repairs, circa December 1942. Oglala left Pearl Harbor for the west coast on 23 December of that year. She had been sunk in the 7 December 1941 Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

    Online Image: 102KB; 740 x 615 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 44582

    ex-USS Oglala (ARG-1)


    Being scrapped at the Joffe Brothers shipbreaking yard, Richmond, California, 3 December 1965.
    Photographed by Lieutenant J.R. Shackleton, USNR.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 102KB; 740 x 610 pixels

     

    For other views of USS Oglala, see:

  • USS Oglala during the Pearl Harbor Attack, 7 December 1941; and
  • USS Oglala Salvage, 1942.


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


    Return to Naval Historical Center home page.

    Page made 10 November 2000
    New image added and introductory text revised 11 May 2008