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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Heron (MSC[O] 18)
ex-AMS-18
ex-YMS-369



Call sign:
November - Charlie - Uniform - Xray


Heron served the Navies of the United States and Japan.
YMS-1 Class Auxiliary Motor Minesweeper:

  • Laid down 13 January 1943 by the Wheeler Shipbuilding Corp., Whitestone, Long Island, NY
  • Launched 24 July 1943
  • Completed and commissioned USS YMS-369, 9 October 1943
  • Decommissioned 2 March 1946 at San Diego, CA
    Naval Vessel Register of 1 January 1949 lists plan for decommissioning and placing in reserve as February 1947
  • Reclassified as a Motor Minesweeper, AMS-18 and named Heron, 17 February 1947
  • Recommissioned 15 July 1949
  • Reclassified as a Coastal Minesweeper, (Old), MSC(O)-18, 7 February 1955
  • Decommissioned 21 March 1955, turned over to the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force and renamed Nuwajima (MCS 657)
  • Returned to U.S. Navy custody 31 March 1967 and struck from the Naval Register
  • Sunk as a target 1 August 1969 by order of the Japanese Maritime Staff Office.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 270 t.
  • Length 136'
  • Beam 24' 6"
  • Draft 6'
  • Speed 13 kts.
  • Complement 50
  • 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-369
    YMS-369 219k David Wright
    Photos added 27 January 2022
    YMS-369 158k
    YMS-369 171k
    YMS-369 239k
    YMS-369 205k
    USS Heron (AMS 18)
    Heron 71k
    Namesake:

    Heron - A long-necked, long-legged wading shore bird indigenous to Louisiana and the vast coastal marshlands

    		Tommy Trampp
    Heron 93k c. 1952
    Off Yang-do Islands, Korea    		 Wayne Schafer
    Heron 41k c. November 1952
    In dry dock, Sasebo, Japan
    Heron 19k c. November 1952
    In dry dock with APL-30, Sasebo, Japan
    Officers 83k c. December 1952
    Officers of the Heron, (left to right) LTJG George Thompson, Executive/Operations Officer, later CO (It pays to wear a white hat); LT Jack Ross, Commanding; LTJG Wayne Schafer, Engineering Officer; and LTJG Steve Watson, Minesweeping Officer
    LTJG 62k c. January 1953
    LTJG Schafer standing OOD during sweep operations. Songjin area
    AMS-8 75k c. 1953
    Curlew (AMS 8), Mockingbird (AMS 27), Heron (AMS 18), and Gull (AMS 16) nested at Sasebo, Japan
    Heron 18k c. 1953
    Mine exploding that had fouled in sweep gear off Hungnam, Korea
    Heron 117k c. 1953
    Sweep operations, Korea.
    Heron 27k c. 1953
    Relaxed sweep operations, Korea.
    Heron 41k c. 1953
    Yokosuka, Japan
    Quarterdeck on Heron.
    Heron 47k c. 1953
    At Yokosuka, Japan.
    Heron 75k c. March 1953
    At Yokosuka, Japan for overhaul.
    Heron 72k
    Heron 78k
    Heron 62k
    Heron 48k c. March 1953
    Heron and Firecrest (AMS 10) in dry dock at Yokosuka, Japan
    Heron 23k c. 1953
    Mine detonated by small arms fire off Wonson, Korea.
    Heron 134k Officers of the Heron and Curlew at the South Korean Naval Base at Chinhae, 27 July 1953. The occasion was a courtesy visit by the Heron and the Curlew. The date was significant because it was the date of the signing of the armistice agreement at Panmunjom. The South Koreans present were not pleased that the conflict was ending without a definitive result
    Heron 129k Chinhae, 27 July 1953
    Heron 128k
    Commanding Officers
    01LT Harry A. Wilson, Jr., USN9 October 1943
    02LT Dixon Lademan, USN - USNA Class of 1946April 1950 - August 1951
    03LT Emil Steiger Roth, USN - USNA Class of 1947August 1951 - October 1953
    04LT Jack Ross, USNOctober 1952
    05LT George Ira Thompson, USN1953
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves
    View the Heron (MSC[O] 18)
    DANFS history entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway website
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