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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Crow (MSC[O] 7)
ex-Crow (AMS 7)
ex-YMS-215



Call sign:
November - Charlie - Alpha - Kilo
YMS-1 Class Auxiliary Motor Minesweeper:

  • The second Crow was laid down 18 August 1942 as YMS-215 by Robert Jacob Inc., City Island, NY
  • Launched 22 February 1943
  • Completed 22 July 1943 and commissioned USS YMS-215
  • Reclassified as a Motor Minesweeper, AMS-7, 17 February 1947
  • Named Crow 18 February 1947
    Naval Vessel Register of 1 January 1949 lists plan for decommissioning and placing in reserve as February 1947
  • Reclassified a Coastal Minesweeper (Old), MSC(O)-7, 7 February 1955
  • Struck from the Navy 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
    YMS-215
    YMS-215 245k "Experimental Semi-submersible torpedo craft" (USN Small Boat No. C-25465). Close-up view of the boat's conning tower, in the open position. Photographed at the Robert Jacob shipyard, City Island, New York, circa March 1943. In the background are two Vosper type PT boats and, at right, the minesweeper YMS-215, which is fitting out
    National Archives photo 19-N-43816 from the Bureau of Ships collection    		 Naval History and Heritage Command
    USS YMS-215
    YMS-215 175k c. 1945
    San Francisco Bay
    Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1974
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 81012    		 Mike Green
    USS Crow (AMS 7)
    Crow 46k
    Namesake:

    Crow - Any of various large, usually entirely black, oscine birds; specifically the American species, which is gregarious and feeds on grains, and the common European species also called carrion crow

    		 Tommy Trampp
    Photo added 13 December 2021
    YMS-215 265k c. early 1950s
    Probably off San Diego, California
    Naval History and Heritage Command photos NH 103516 and NH 103517    		 Mike Green
    YMS-215 202k
    Commanding Officers
    01LT J. J. Blair, USNR1945
    02LT Charles Eugene Little, USNMarch 1947 - October 1948
    03LTJG Robert Leonard Starkweather, USN1950 - 1952
    04LT Thomas Dominic Pfundstein, USNMay 1952
    05LT Richard L. Alford, USN1953 - 1954
    06LT Ernest Carl Castle, USN1956
    ??LCDR Roger Leonard Buck, USN - USNA Class of 1950
    Retired as Captain
    Courtesy of Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves and Joe Radigan
    View the Crow (MSC[O] 7)
    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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