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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

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



Call sign:
Nan - Dog - Dog - Able


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
    Naval Vessel Register of 1 January 1949 lists plan for decommissioning and placing in reserve as February 1947
  • Reclassified as a Motor Minesweeper, AMS-22, named Kite, decommissioned 18 February 1947 at San Diego, CA and 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 and renamed Kim Po (MSC 520)
  • Fate unknown.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 270 t.
  • Length 136'
  • Beam 24' 6"
  • Draft 8'
  • Speed 15 kts.
  • Complement 32
  • Armament: One 3"/50 dual purpose gun mount, two 20mm gun mounts and two depth charge projectors
    1955 - One 40mm mount, two 20mm mounts and two depth charge projectors
  • Propulsion: Two 880bhp General Motors 8-268A diesel engines, Snow and Knobstedt single reduction gear, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    USS YMS-374
    YMS-374 26k 7 June 1944
    Weaver Shipyards, Orange, TX
    Courtesy of Dr. Howard C. Williams
    Texana and Orange County Historian    		 Curry Garvin
    YMS-374 273k YMS-374, one mile off Race Point, Massachusetts, August 13, 1944
    National Archives photo 80-G-244870    		 Tracy White
    YMS-374 73k c. 1945-46, San Francisco Bay
    U. S. Navy photo NH 84984    		 Naval Historical Center
    USS Kite (AMS 22)
    Kite 83k Namesake: Kite - A small or medium bird of the hawk family Tommy Trampp
    Photo added 25 April 2020
    Incredible 125k Commanding Officers of Mine Division Thirty-one in conference off Korea, 26 October 1950. Probably taken in the wardroom of USS Incredible (AM 249) during minesweeping operations off Wonsan

    Those present are (from left to right):
    Lieutenant Edward P. Flynn, Commanding Officer of USS Incredible;
    Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Nicholas Grkovic, CO of Kite;
    Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Robert C. Fuller, CO of USS Partridge (AMS-31);
    Lieutenant Commander D'Arcy V. Shouldice, Commander, Mine Division 31;
    Lieutenant (Junior Grade) T.R. Howard, CO of USS Redhead (AMS-34);
    Lieutenant (Junior Grade) James P. McMahon, CO of USS Chatterer (AMS-40);
    Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Philip Levin, CO of USS Osprey (AMS-28) and
    Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Stanley P. Gary, CO of USS Mockingbird (AMS-27)
    National Archives photo 80-G-422081

    		 Robert Hurst
    Defense 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)
    National Archives photo 80-G-632291    		 Naval Historical Center
    USS Kite (MSC[O] 22)
    Kite 199k c. 1955
    Sasebo Harbor, Sasebo, Japan    		 Stan Cochran
    Engineering Officer,
    USS Kite (1955-56)
    LST-735 Dukes County 86k c. October 1955
    Sasebo, Japan
    Kite alongside Dukes County (LST 735)
    Kite 198k c. November 1955
    Sasebo, Japan
    Kite 131k c. December 1955
    Sasebo Harbor, Sasebo, Japan
    Just prior to her turnover to the ROK Navy.
    Curlew 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
    Kite 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).
    Kite 279k c. January 1956
    Starboard bow view of bridge area showing the ships World War II and Korean War ribbons and total number of mines swept during her active duty
    Kite 146k c. January 1956
    Port side view of bridge area showing the ships World War II and Korean War ribbons and total number of mines swept during her active duty
    Kim Po (MSC[O] 520)
    Kite 91k Kim Po (MSC[O] 520)
    U.S. Navy photo    .    		 Joseph M. Radigan (of blessed memory)
    Commanding Officers
    01LTJG Robert A. Harris, USNR31 May 1944 - 1945
    02LT Nicholas Grkovic, USN - USNA Class of 1946
    Awarded the Silver Star (1950) - Retired as Commander    		9 May 1949 - 1950
    03LT Donald Lees Hadaway, USN1950 - January 1952
    04LT Robert G. Zimmerman, USNJanuary 1952 - December 1952
    05LT William Reutter Steers, USN (later USNR) - USNA Class of 1946December 1952
    06LCDR Charles Leroy Mull, II, USN - USNA Class of 19501954 - 1955
    07LTJG Donald Bagnall "Red" Meek, USN - USNA Class of 19501955 - 6 January 1956
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves and Joseph M. Radigan (of blessed memory)
    View the Kite (MSC[O] 22)
    DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Website
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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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