Both were built by John Roach & Sons, Chester, Pa., as coastwise passenger and freight liners for the Old Dominion Steamship Company; length 375 feet, beam 42 feet, draft 18½ feet, displacement 5150 tons; single screw, 16 knots; one 5-inch 51-caliber gun aft, two 3-inch anti-aircraft guns forward; mines 612 normally, 642 maximum, carried on two decks; officers 18, crew 392; total 410.
Shawmut—Captain W. T. Cluverius, U.S.N.
Aroostook—Captain J. Harvey Tomb, U.S.N.
Both vessels were launched in 1907 at Cramp’s Shipyard, Philadelphia, named Massachusetts and Bunker Hill respectively; commissioned as minelayers at Navy Yard, Boston, Mass., December 7, 1917; length 387 feet, beam 52 feet, draft 17½ feet, displacement 3800 tons; twin screw, oil fuel, 20 knots; one 5-inch 51-caliber and one 3-inch anti-aircraft gun on the middle line aft, one 3-inch anti-aircraft gun forward; 320 mines normally, 352 maximum, all carried on one deck; officers 20, crew 346; total 366.
Totals of Squadron:
Tonnage, 54,000 tons.
Mines, normal 5530, maximum 5834.
Officers 208, men 3839; total 4047.
In addition, four seagoing tugs belonged to the squadron, as described in [Chapter 22].