On completion of her initial fitting out and dock trials, Auk proceeded to Tompkinsville, Staten Island, on the afternoon of 24 February reporting to Minesweeping Division, 3d Naval District.

[2] The minesweeper, rolling and pitching heavily as the winds and seas rose, was proceeding on her coastwise voyage when, in the predawn darkness of the 0000-0400 watch on 8 March, men in the crews' compartment detected water entering their space at an alarming rate.

Quick repairs enabled Auk's men to begin the process of hoisting up the hook, and the minesweeper got underway and eventually reached safe haven in the lee of Montauk Point.

Auk remained there for over a month, undergoing repairs and fitting out for her pending duty sweeping the North Sea Mine Barrage.

[2] On the morning of 15 April, after calibrating her compasses Auk got underway for the Orkney Islands, joining three of her sister ships: USS Heron (AM-10) (Minesweeper No.

All went well until two days from their destination, when steering gear problems briefly disabled first Heron, and then Auk; each time Oriole's took them under tow.

A Naval Board of Inquiry which met to ascertain the particulars of the death of the boatswain's mate recommended that safety guards be installed on that equipment in all sweepers to prevent similar accidents.

[2] Over the next five months, Auk and her sister ships - together with a group of 110-foot subchasers ((SC's)) supported by an Allied flotilla of British and American logistics and repair ships and loaned British Admiralty naval trawlers - carried out the dangerous task of sweeping some 55,000 mines sown in 1918 between the coasts of Scotland and Norway to contain the German U-boats in the North Sea.

a mine exploded 50 yards astern tripped the generators (plunging the engine and fire rooms into darkness) and knocked down part of the brick walls in her two boilers.

After one hose line parted, Auk passed another to aid Pelican in pumping out the rapidly rising water below-decks.

Gradually, however, the pumps of Auk and Eider, working full capacity after the lines had been repaired and again placed in operation, succeeded in lowering Pelican''s waterline.

[2] Finally, on the morning of 10 July, the valiant little flotilla limped into Tresness Bay where Auk's pumps continued to help lower her sister ship's waterline even further.

Bulmer transferred his command pennant from Black Hawk to Auk and wore it in the ship as she teamed with Oriole during the detachment's fifth mine clearance operation.

Bulmer disembarked for the last time at 0017 on 1 August and, tragically, just three days later suffered severe injuries in an automobile accident.

He died on 5 August, and his loss was felt tremendously throughout the detachment, since his intrepid personality had stamped itself on the force and inspired it during his time in command.

During the first of these missions (mid-to-late August), Auk ranged as far as the coast of Norway, touching at the ports of Stavanger and Hangeand, and Bommel Fjord.

During this operation, Auk suffered her second fatality: at 0715 on 31 August a kite wire, jumping out of a chock, knocked Boatswain's Mate 1st Class Lee A. Singleton over the side.

[2] Drydocked at Invergordon on 2 and 3 September to repair damage suffered when mines exploded close aboard on 30 August, Auk performed local tug and towing duties at Kirkwall in mid-September before resuming operations in the minefields later that month.

After steaming from there to Lisbon, Portugal, for a brief period of upkeep alongside Black Hawk, Auk began her homeward voyage on the afternoon of 24 October.

[2] Auk refueling at sea from Black Hawk while approaching Bermuda on 11 November, an event necessitated by the discovery two days before that the after peak tank had leaked salt water, thus contaminating the oil.

On the morning of the 10th, Auk went alongside Black Hawk in an attempt at underway replenishment, only to have the fuel hose carry away and foul the minesweeper's propeller.

In another attempt at refueling between 0925 and 1115 the next morning, Auk took on board 20 tons of oil and reached Grassy Bay, Bermuda, six hours later.

Anchoring in the North River on 21 November, near her old sweeping partner, Oriole, Auk lay in that waterway when Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels reviewed the assembled mine force sweepers, chasers, and tenders.

[2] While Auk lay in reserve, the Coast and Geodetic Survey found itself in urgent need of ships to replace those which, for reasons of age or unsuitability for the work to be performed, had been disposed of.

With the expansion of the American Navy during this time between the outbreak of war in Europe and the entry of the United States in the conflict (1939 to 1941), that service cast about for auxiliary vessels to support the growing number of combatant ships.

Assigned to the Lake Union plant, at Seattle, in October 1941 for degaussing and conversion, Discoverer was classified as ARS, the work was still in progress when the Japanese attacked the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941.