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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

YMS-231 / AMS-10 / MSC(O)-10 Firecrest


Firecrest served the Navies of the United States and Japan.

YMS-1 Class Auxiliary Motor Minesweeper: Laid down, 5 October 1942 by Frank L. Sample, Jr., Boothbay Harbor, Maine; Launched, 3 April 1943; Comopleted and commissioned USS YMS-231, 6 August 1943. Following service in World War II, she was placed out of commission in February 1947; Named Firecrest and reclassified as a Motor Minesweeper AMS-10, 18 February 1947. Firecrest returned to service in the later 1940s. She was sent to Korea in 1950 and operated in the combat zone until the shooting ended in July 1953. Firecrest continued to serve the Far East after the war. Reclassified as a Coastal Minesweeper, Old MSC(O)-10, 7 February 1955; . Transferred to Japan, 15 March 1955 and renamed Eta Jima (MSC 656). Returned to U. S. custody in 1967; Struck from the Naval Register, 31 March 1967; Disposed of as a target in August 1968.

Specifications: Displacement 270 t.; Length 136'; Beam 24' 6"; Draft 8'; Speed 15 kts; Complement 32; Armament one single 3"/50 gun mount, two 20mm, two dcp; Propulsion two General Motors diesel engines, two shafts.


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Size Image Description Source
Firecrest 89k Firecrest in a Japanese port, 3 September 1952.
US Navy photo NH 96992
Naval Historical Center
Firecrest 76k Korea. c. 1953 Wayne Schafer
Heron 48k Heron (AMS 18) and Firecrest in dry dock at Yokosuka, Japan. March 1953. Wayne Schafer
AMS-5 Condor/LST-735 Dukes County 88k Dukes County (LST 735) serving as mother ship for seven minesweepers, probably in a Japanese port, circa 1952-54. Ships nested alongside are: Gull (AMS-16); Firecrest; Condor (AMS-5); Merganser (AMS-26); Osprey (AMS-28); Competent (AM-316);, and
Chief (AM-315).
Courtesy of the U.S. Naval Institute, James C. Fahey Collection
US Navy photo NH 68589.
Naval Historical Center

View the Firecrest (AMS-10)
DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Web Site. The main archive for the DANFS Online Project.

Crew Contact And Reunion Information
U.S.Navy Memorial Foundation
Fleet Reserve Association

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 Auxiliary Motor Minesweeper (YMS) Photo Index Back to the Motor Minesweeper (AMS) Photo Index Back to the Coastal Minesweeper (MSC) Photo Index

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