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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Merganser (MHC 47)
ex-AMCU-47
ex-AMS-26
ex-YMS-417



YMS-417 call sign:
Nan - Peter - William - Queen
YMS-1 Class Auxiliary Motor Mine Sweeper:

  • Laid down 9 January 1944 at Stadium Yacht Basin, Cleveland, Ohio
  • Launched 29 June 1944
  • Completed 10 November 1944
  • Commissioned USS YMS-417, 11 November 1944
  • Reclassified as a Motor Minesweeper, AMS-26, 17 February 1947 and named Merganser
  • Converted to a Coastal Minesweeper (Underwater Locator) and reclassified AMCU-47, 1 October 1954
  • Reclassified as a Coastal Minehunter, MHC-47, 7 February 1955
  • Decommissioned 2 April 1958 at San Diego, CA and laid up in the Pacific Reserve Fleet, San Diego Group
  • Struck from the Naval Register 1 May 1959
  • Sold for scrap 5 May 1960 to Hilburg and Trupin of Los Angeles, CA
  • Sold again in 1960 to an unknown buyer in the United Kingdom
  • Sold in 1971 to William F. Craig of Curtice, OH
  • Converted to a yacht and renamed Miss Juanita
  • 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 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
    YMS-417
    YMS-417 54k Fitting out at the Stadium Yacht Basin, Cleveland, Ohio, 10 July 1944
    U. S. Navy photos 19-N-67893 and 19-N-67894    		 Naval Historical Center
    YMS-417 95k
    USS Merganser (AMS 26)
    Merganser 91k Namesake: Merganser - A large, fisheating, diving duck with a long, slender, toothed beak Tommy Trampp
    Merganser 124k Opening of Wonsan, October 1950. Merganser tied up to Conserver (ARS-39) in Wonsan Harbor, Korea. Photographed by AFAN W.C. Newbill. The original photo is dated 23 October 1950. Note navigation buoy on Conserver's after deck and ships in background, including another AMS and a high-speed minesweeper (DMS)
    National Archives photo 80-G-422161    		 Naval History and Heritage Command
    Merganser 86k 22 November 1950
    Lieutenant(Junior Grade) Alvin L. Short, USN and Lieutenant Commander Kyu Nam Chu, ROK discuss minesweeping operations while on board USS Dixie (AD-14), in Korean Waters
    National Archives photo 80-G-424557
    Chatterer 146k Mine Division 31 tied up at Yokosuka, following mine clearance activities off Korea. From left to right: Merganser; Osprey (AMS-28); Chatterer (AMS-40), and
    Mockingbird AMS-27)
    Original dated 30 November 1950
    National Archives photo 80-G-424597
    AMS-5 Condor/LST-735 Dukes County 88k c. 1952/1954
    Dukes County (LST-735) serving as mother ship for seven minesweepers, probably in a Japanese port
    Ships nested alongside are: Gull, Firecrest (AMS-10), Condor (AMS-5), Merganser (AMS-26), Osprey (AMS-28), Competent (AM-316), and Chief (AM-315).
    Courtesy U.S. Naval Institute, James C. Fahey Collection
    U.S. Navy photo NH 68589
    USS Merganser (MHC 47)
    Merganser 91k c. 1955-58
    U. S. Navy photo 1045939    		 Naval Historical Center
    Miss Juanita
    Miss Juanita 56k Historical Collections of the Great Lakes
    Commanding Officers
    01LT John C. Sellner, USNR11 November 1944 - September 1945
    02LTJG Edmund J. McGraw, USNRSeptember 1945 - December 1945
    03LTJG William A. Reilly, USNRDecember 1945 - 5 June 1946
    04ENS Edward William Cooke, USN - USNA Class of 1946
    Awarded the Navy Distinguished Service Medal - Retired as Vice Admiral    		5 June 1946
    05LTJG Alvin Luke Short, USN1949
    06LTJG Donald J. O'Neill, USNR1950 - October 1951
    07LT Elnar Albert May, USNOctober 1951 - October 1952
    08LT W. C. Smith, USNOctober 1952
    09LT Richard Thomas Bailey, USN1953 - 1954
    10LT James Walsh Farley, USN1957 - 2 April 1958
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves and Joseph M. Radigan (of blessed memory)
    View the Merganser (AMS-26)
    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 Auxiliary Minesweeper (YMS) Photo Index Back to the Motor Mine Sweeper (AMS) Photo Index Back to the Coastal Minesweeper (Underwater Locator) - (AMCU) Photo Index Back to the Coastal Minehunter (MHC) Photo Index
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    This page created by Gary P. Priolo and maintained by Joseph M. Radigan (of blessed memory)
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