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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Photo Archives
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships
LCI(L)-653
Avocet (AMCU / MHC 16)
Avocet
(LCI(L)-653: dp. 387 (f.); 1. 159'0"; b. 23'8"; dr. 5'8"; s. 14.4 k.;
cpl. 40; a. 5 20mm.; cl. LCI(L)-351)
The second Avocet was laid down as LCI(L)-653 on 14 June
1944 at Barber, N.J,, by the New Jersey Shipbuilding Corp.;
launched on 14 July 1944; and commissioned on 21 July 1944.
Assigned to the Pacific during the last year of World War II,
LCI(L)-653 served in the Philippines in the spring of 1945. She
participated in the occupation of many of the smaller islands
around Mindanao and of those that comprise the Sulu
Archipelago. After the war, the ship returned to the United
States and was placed out of commission, in reserve, on 6 June
1946. On 7 March 1952, LCI(L)-653 was reclassified as a
minehunter and was redesignated AMCU-16. That same day,
she was named Avocet. Her conversion began on 1 July 1953
at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, and she was
recommissioned there on 9 December 1953, Lt. James E.
McMullen in command.
However, her return to active duty proved brief. For less than
15 months, Avocet operated out of San Diego conducting
experiments for the Naval Electronics Laboratory. She also
served as a sonar training ship and participated in mine hunting
exercises. On 23 February 1955, she arrived in San Francisco
where she began preparations for inactivation. While
undergoIng inactivation overhaul, she was reclassified as a
coastal minehunter with the designation MHC-16. Avocet was
towed to Stockton, Calif., on 5 May 1955 and was
decommissioned there on 20 May 1955. Her disposal was
approved on 21 December 1959, and her name was struck from
the Navy list on I January 1960.
Avocet earned one battle star during World War II as
LCI(L)-653.
This page created and maintained by Joseph M. Radigan
© 2004 Joseph M. Radigan © 1996 - 2004 NavSource Naval History. All Rights Reserved.
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