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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Courser (MSC[O] 6)
ex-Courser (AMS 6)
ex-YMS-201



Call sign:
November - Quebec - Mike - Bravo
YMS-1 Class Auxiliary Motor Minesweeper:

  • Laid down 28 August 1942 as YMS-201 by the Hiltebrant Dock Co., Kingston, NY
  • Launched 19 November 1942
  • Completed 24 July 1943
  • Commissioned USS YMS-201, 29 July 1943 and assigned to the Atlantic Fleet
  • Decommissioned 8 August 1946
  • Reclassified as a Motor Minesweeper, AMS-6, 17 February 1947 and named Courser the following day
    Naval Vessel Register of 1 January 1949 lists plan for decommissioning and placing in reserve as February 1947
  • Reclassified as a Coastal Minesweeper (Old), MSC(O)-6, 7 February 1955
  • Struck from the Naval Register 1 November 1959
  • Sold in 1960 to Tracor Marine Acoustical Services, Inc. of Miami, FL for use as a research vessel and renamed G. W. Pierce
  • Sold in 1973 to Harry D. Oliver of Miami and renamed Oceanic
  • Sold in 1975 to Maria Lina C. Estanislau of New York
  • Sold in 1980 to David W. Haldeman of Newark, NJ
  • Out of documentation by 1989
  • 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-201
    YMS-201 131k c. 1945
    San Francisco Bay
    Courtesy of Donald McPherson, 1976
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 84971    		 Mike Green
    Courser
    Courser 68k
    Namesake:

    The coursers are a group of birds which together with the pratincoles make up the family Glareolidae. They have long legs, short wings and long pointed bills which curve downwards. Their most unusual feature for birds classed as waders is that they inhabit deserts and similar arid regions

    		 Tommy Trampp
    Photo added 17 December 2021
    Commanding Officers
    01LTJG Eddie W. Hogan, USNR29 July 1943
    02LT Richard Louis Rodier, USN1950 - April 1952
    03LT Alfred Clarence Sharp, USNApril 1952
    04LT Henry Thornton (Beau) Dietrich, Jr., USN - USNA Class of 1951
    Awarded two Legions of Merit and the Bronze Star - Retired as Captain    		January 1956 - April 1958
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves, Joe Radigan and Bill Gonyo
    View the Courser (MSC[O] 6)
    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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