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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Kite (MSC[O] 22)
ex-AMS-22
ex-YMS-374

Call sign:
November - Delta - Delta - Alpha

Kite served the Navies of the United States and the Republic of Korea.

YMS-1 Class Auxiliary Motor Minesweeper: Laid down, 31 January 1943 by the Weaver Shipyards, Orange, TX; Launched, 17 February 1944; Completed and commissioned USS YMS-374, 31 May 1944; Reclassified as a Motor Minesweeper, AMS-22, named Kite and decommissioned, 18 February 1947; Laid up in the Pacific Reserve Fleet; Recommissioned, 9 May 1949; Reclassified as a Coastal Minesweeper (Old), MSC(O)-22, 7 February 1955; Decommissioned, 6 January 1956, at Chinhae, South Korea; Transferred to the Republic of Korea as Kim Po (MSC 520). Fate unknown.

Specifications: Displacement 270 t.; Length 136'; Beam 24' 6"; Draft 8'; Speed 15 kts; Complement 32; Armament one single 3"/50 dual purpose gun mount, (replaced by one single 40mm gun mount), two 20mm gun mounts, two dcp; Propulsion two 880bhp General Motors 8-268A diesel engines, two shafts.

Click On Image For Full Size Image	Size	Image Description	Source
USS YMS-374
	26k	7 June 1944 Weaver Shipyards, Orange, TX Courtesy of Dr. Howard C. Williams Texana and Orange County Historian	Curry Garvin
	73k	c. 1945-46, San Francisco Bay, seen as YMS-374 U. S. Navy Photo NH 84984	Naval Historical Center
USS Kite (AMS 22)
	73k	8 October 1952. Laertes (AR-20) at Sasebo, Japan, with nine minesweepers and a harbor tug alongside. Ships nested left to right are: Impeccable (AM-320); Gladiator (AM-319); Shoveler (AM-382); Defense (AM-317); Devastator (AM-318); Laertes; Condor (AMS-5); Kite; Curlew (AMS-8); Chatterer (AMS-40) and Wallacut (YTB-420). U. S. Navy Photo 80-G-632291	Naval Historical Center
USS Kite (MSC[O] 22)
	199k	c. 1955 Sasebo Harbor, Sasebo, Japan	Stan Cochran Engineering Officer, USS Kite (1955-56)
	86k	c. October 1955 Sasebo, Japan Kite alongside Dukes County (LST 735)	Stan Cochran Engineering Officer, USS Kite (1955-56)
	198k	c. November 1955 Sasebo, Japan	Stan Cochran Engineering Officer, USS Kite (1955-56)
	131k	c. December 1955 Sasebo Harbor, Sasebo, Japan Just prior to her turnover to the ROK Navy.	Stan Cochran Engineering Officer, USS Kite (1955-56)
	115k	c. December 1955 Sasebo, Japan Kite, Curlew (MSC(O) 8) and Mockingbird (MSC(O) 27), just before parting for Korea and handover to the ROKN.	Stan Cochran, LTJG Engineer Officer USS Kite (1955-1956)
	61k	c. January 1956 Chinhae, Korea LT Kim, ROKN, prospective commanding officer of Kim Po (MSC[O] 520) and LT Donald B. Meek, USN, the last U.S. skipper of USS Kite (MSC[O] 22).	Stan Cochran Engineering Officer, USS Kite (1955-56)
Kim Po (MSC[O] 520)
	91k	Kim Po (MSC[O] 520) U.S. Navy photo.	Joe Radigan