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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Bluebird (IX 172)
ex-AM-72



Call sign:
Nan - Easy - Fox - Yoke


Bluebird served the Navies of the United States and Norway
Albatross Class Minesweeper:

  • Laid down 25 October 1930 as the steel hull trawler M/V Maine by Bath Iron Works Corp., Bath, ME for Booth Fisheries Co. of Boston, MA
  • Launched 7 April 1931
  • Delivered 18 April 1931
  • Acquired by the Navy 13 August 1940
  • Renamed Bluebird 14 August 1940
  • Converted to a Minesweeper by the General Ship and Engine Works, Inc., East Boston, MA
  • Commissioned USS Bluebird (AM 72), 22 November 1940
  • Conversion completed 15 March 1941
  • Reclassified as an Unclassified Miscellaneous Auxiliary, IX-172, 1 June 1944
  • Decommissioned 12 January 1945 at Boston
  • Struck from the Navy list 19 January 1945
  • Transferred to the Maritime Commission 15 November 1945
  • Transferred to Norway
  • Fate unknown.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 520 t.
  • Length 132' 4"
  • Beam 24'
  • Draft 13'
  • Speed 10 kts.
  • Armament: One 3"/50 dual purpose gun mount and two .30 cal. Lewis machine guns
  • Propulsion: One 550shp Fairbanks Morse diesel engine, one shaft.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Bluebird 27k Namesake: The Bluebird is a small North American songbird Tommy Trampp
    Bluebird 721k 18 January 1942
    Norfolk Navy Yard Portsmouth, VA
    U.S. Navy photo 2576(42)    		 Ed Zajkowski
    Bluebird 66k 20 January 1942
    U.S. Navy photo    		 Original photo: Hyperwar U.S. Navy in WWII
    Replacement photo: Robert Hurst
    Bluebird 393k c. May 1944
    Bluebird in Arsuk Fjord, Greenland, as seen by USS Bear (AG 29) while on patrol. Bluebird was part of the Greenland Patrol, operating in waters between Greenland and Iceland
    National Archives photos 80-G-225202, 80-G-225203, 80-G-225204 and 80-G-225205 from National Museum of the U.S. Navy    		 Michael Mohl
    Bluebird 476k
    Bluebird 489k
    Bluebird 420k
    Commanding Officers
    01LCDR James Thomas Baldwin, USNR22 November 1940 - March 1943
    02LCDR Dana Charles Wrightington, USNRMarch 1943 - November 1943
    03LT William E. Sheppard, USNRNovember 1943 - May 1944
    04LTJG Dudley R. Sullivan, USNRMay 1944 - 12 January 1945
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves and Joe Radigan
    View the Bluebird (AM-72)
    DANFS history entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway website
    Back to the Main Photo Index Back to the Mine Warfare Ship Photo Index Back to the Minesweeper (AM) Photo Index Back to the Auxiliary Ship Index Back to the Unclassified Miscellaneous Auxiliary Ship (IX) Photo Index
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    This page was created by Gary P. Priolo & maintained by Joseph M. Radigan (of blessed memory) & Michael Mohl
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