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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

USS Viking (ARS 1)
ex-USC&GS Guide



Navy call sign (Early 1919):
George - Jig - Boy - Tare

Call sign (1933):
William - Easy - Tare - George

ex-USS Flamingo (AM 32)
ex-Minesweeper No. 32



Call sign (1919):
George - Tare - Sail - Jig

Flamingo served both the U. S. Navy and the Coast & Geodetic Survey

Lapwing Class Minesweeper:

  • Laid down 18 October 1917 by the New Jersey Drydock and Transportation Co., Elizabethport, NJ
  • Launched 24 August 1918
  • Commissioned USS Flamingo, Minesweeper No. 32, 12 February 1919
  • Designated AM-32, 17 July 1920
  • Decommissioned 5 May 1922
  • Transferred to the Coast and Geodetic Survey, 23 January 1923
  • Renamed USC&GS Guide, 1 March 1923
  • Returned to U.S. Navy custody 27 June 1941, converted to a Salvage and Rescue Vessel, ARS-1, at the San Diego Marine Construction Co., San Diego, CA and renamed Viking
  • Placed in-service, 3 January 1942, civilian manned and operated under contract to the Merritt, Chapman and Scott Salvage Co., San Diego
  • Placed out-of-service and returned by the contractor to Naval custody 17 March 1953
  • Struck from the Navy Register 19 April 1953
  • Sold for scrap 22 July 1953 to Nathan Cohen and Son Inc. of Los Angeles, CA.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 950 t.
    1933 - 1,180 t.
  • Length 187' 10"
    1933 - 180'
  • Beam 35' 5"
  • Draft 8' 10"
    1933 - 12.6'
  • Speed 14 kts.
  • Complement 78
    1933 - 69
  • Armament: Two 3"/50 dual purpose mounts and two machine guns
    1941 - One 3"/23 mount
  • Propulsion: Two Babcock and Wilcox 200psi boilers, Harlan and Hollingsworth Corp.1,200shp triple expansion engine, one shaft
    1933 - 1,400hp
    .
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    USS Flamingo (Minesweeper No. 32)
    Flamingo 40k
    Namesake:

    Flamingo - A long-legged aquatic bird

    		Tommy Trampp
    Flamingo 177k Photo from "Sweeping the North Sea Mine Barrage" by the U.S. Navy North Sea Minesweeping Detachment Joseph M. Radigan (of blessed memory)
    Flamingo 279k
    Lapwing 118k Review of the Atlantic Fleet Minesweeping Squadron, November 1919. Ships of the squadron anchored in the Hudson River, off New York City, while being reviewed by Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels on 24 November 1919, following their return to the United States after taking part in clearing the North Sea mine barrage. Identifiable ships present include (left column, from front to rear): USS Turkey (Minesweeper No. 13); USS Quail (Minesweeper No. 15) with SC-354 alongside; USS Lark (Minesweeper No. 21) with SC-208 alongside; Swan (Minesweeper No. 34) with
    SC-356 alongside; and Flamingo with an unidentified submarine chaser alongside. (right column, from front to rear): USS Thrush (Minesweeper No. 18); Two unidentified minesweepers, one of which is probably Lapwing (Minesweeper No. 1); USS Kingfisher (Minesweeper No. 25); and, in no particular order, tugs Patapsco and Patuxent. USS SC-245 is at the far right, passing between the two anchored columns.
    U.S. Navy photo NH 44904    		 Naval Historical Center
    USC&GS Guide
    Flamingo 72k Office of the Oceanographer of the Navy
    Flamingo 166k 4 July 1939
    Dutch Harbor, Unalaska Island, Alaska
    Coast and Geodetic Survey Ships Guide (in foreground) and Discoverer (ex-Auk [AM 38]). Taking on fuel from USS Chester (CA 27)
    NOAA Photo Library, NOAA Central Library; C&GS Season's Report Eickelberg 1939-32 photo    		 NOAA Website
    Osprey/Flamingo 108k c. 1940
    Dutch Harbor, Unalaska Island, Alaska
    Guide (right) along with USC&GS Pioneer
    USC&GS photo    		 Ramon Jackson
    Flamingo/Osprey 118k c. 1940
    Alaska
    Coast and Geodetic Survey Ships Pioneer and Guide
    NOAA Photo Library, NOAA Central Library; Captain Harry D. Reed, C&GS    		 NOAA Website
    USS Viking (ARS 1)
    Viking 34k
    Namesake:

    Vikings were the seafaring Norse people from southern Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden) who from the late 8th to late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and settled throughout parts of Europe, and explored westward to Iceland, Greenland, and Vinland. In the countries they raided and settled, the period is known as the Viking Age, and the term 'Viking' also commonly includes the inhabitants of the Norse homelands. The Vikings had a profound impact on the early medieval history of Scandinavia, the British Isles, France, Estonia, Kievan Rus' and Sicily

    		 Tommy Trampp
    Viking 247k Underway off San Diego, California, on 2 November 1951. She was then on lease from the Navy, which had previously had her in service as USS Viking (ARS-1) and Flamingo
    (AM-32)    . She was also the USC&GS ship Guide
    Courtesy of Ted Stone, 1982
    U.S. Navy photo NH 93531    		 Naval History and Heritage Command
    Commanding Officers
    01LT Frank Joseph Mayer, USN - Awarded the Navy Cross (1919)12 February 1919 - 9 May 1919
    02LTJG John Elmer Shaw, USN9 May 1919 - 18 November 1920
    03LT Joseph Frank, USN
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves
    View the Flamingo (AM-32)
    DANFS history entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway website
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