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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Crossbill (MSC[O] 45)
ex-AMS-45
ex-YMS-120



Call sign:
November - Bravo - Foxtrot - Yankee
YMS-1 Class Auxiliary Motor Minesweeper:

  • The second Crossbill was laid down 23 August 1941 by the Harbor Boat Building Co., Terminal Island, CA
  • Launched 4 April 1942
  • Completed 1 August 1942 and commissioned USS YMS-120
  • Reclassified as a Motor Minesweeper, AMS-45, named Crossbill, 1 September 1947 and placed in service as a Naval Reserve training ship in the 4th Naval District (Philadelphia)
  • Reclassified as a Minesweeper Coastal (Old), MSC(O)-45, 7 February 1955
  • Struck from the Naval Register 1 November 1959
  • 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
    USS YMS-120
    YMS-120 126k c. 1945
    San Francisco Bay, CA
    Courtesy of Donald McPherson, 1976
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 84969    		 Mike Green
    Namesake
    Crossbill 148k
    A finch whose curved mandibles cross each other.
    		 Tommy Trampp
    USS Crossbill (AMS-45)
    Crossbill
    111912002    		 142k
    Postcard of Crossbill (AMS-45) moored at Public Steamboat Landing, Erie, PA, circa 1950. Crossbill made at least two Great Lakes training cruises in 1949 and 1950.
    		 Tim McLaughlin
    Flagship Niagara League
    Commanding Officers
    01Chief Boatswain John I. Howton, USN1950 - September 1951
    02LT Thomas W. Brown, USNSeptember 1951 - June 1952
    03LT William James Diffley, USNRJune 1952
    04LT Arthur Coday, USN
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves
    View the YMS-120
    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 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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