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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive
Courtesy of Mike Smolinski

Woodpecker (MSC 209)
ex-AMS-209


Woodpecker served the Navies of the United States and the Republic of Fiji.
Redwing Class Motor Minesweeper:

  • Laid down 23 June 1954 as AMS-209 at Bellingham Shipyards, Inc., Bellingham, WA
  • Launched 7 January 1955
  • Reclassified as a Coastal Minesweeper, MSC-209, 7 February 1955
  • Commissioned USS Woodpecker (MSC 209), 3 February 1956
  • Decommissioned 15 December 1970 at Seattle, WA and converted to a Naval Reserve Training Ship
  • Struck from the Navy Register 1 July 1976, sold to the Republic of Fiji and renamed HMFS Kikau (MSC 204)
  • Sunk as an artificial reef in 1990.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 320 t.
  • Length 144'
  • Beam 28'
  • Draft 9'
  • Speed 13 kts.
  • Complement 50
  • Armament: One 40mm gun mount
  • Propulsion: Two 880bhp General Motors diesel engines, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    USS Woodpecker (MSC 209)
    Woodpecker 89k Drydocked at Yokosuka, Japan
    Photo by ENS Max E. Harksen    		 USS Woodpecker (MSC 209) Website
    Woodpecker 79k .
    Woodpecker 61k Sweeping
    Photo by CAPT Frederick Reeg
    Woodpecker 69k Alongside starboard quarter of Jason (AR 8) off the coast of Vietnam.
    U.S. Navy photo by PH3 R. L. Yager from the January 1969 edition of All Hands magazine    		 Joe Radigan
    HMFS Kikua (MSC 204)
    Warbler 91k 23 January 1986
    Right to left, the Fijian navy ships HMFS's Kiro[MSC 206], ex-Warbler (MSC 206); Kikau and
    Kula [MSC 205], ex-Vireo (MSC 205) at Suva navy base, on a very foggy morning.    		 Ray Smith
    Commanding Officers
    01LT Roy M. Malone, USN3 February 1956
    09LT Victor G. Reisling, Jr., USN - USNA Class of 19621969
    10LT Charles Marion Tuck, USN15 December 1970
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves
    View the Woodpecker (MSC 209) DANFS History
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    Naval Minewarfare Association
    Association of Minemen
    Back To The Main Photo Index Back To the Mine Warfare Ship Photo Index Back To The Motor Minesweeper (AMS) Photo Index Back to the Coastal Minesweeper (MSC) Photo Index
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    This page created and maintained by Joseph M. Radigan
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