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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Hornbill (MSC[O] 19)
ex-Hornbill (AMS 19)
ex-YMS-371



Call sign:
November - Charlie - Xray - Lima
YMS-1 Class Auxiliary Motor Minesweeper:

  • Laid down 17 November 1942 by Weaver Shipyards, Orange, TX
  • Launched 27 November 1943
  • Completed and commissioned USS YMS-371, 29 February 1944
  • Decommissioned 1 June 1946
  • Named Hornbill and reclassified as a Motor Minesweeper, AMS-19, 18 February 1947
  • Assigned duty at San Francisco, CA as a Naval Reserve training vessel in November 1948
  • Reclassified as a Coastal Minesweeper (Old), MSC(O)-19, 7 February 1955
  • Decommissioned in September 1957
  • Struck from the Naval Register 1 November 1959
  • Sold in 1961 to C. D. Anderson of San Antonio, TX for use as a tugboat and renamed Los Buscaderos
  • Sold in 1963 to the San Juan Towing and Salvage Corp. of Guaynabo, Puerto Rico for use as a freighter and renamed Peacock
  • Out of documentation in November 1976
  • Believed to have sunk in 1979 off Scorpion Anchorage, Santa Cruz Island, CA.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 270 t.
  • Length 136'
  • Beam 22' 9"
  • Draft 6' 3"
  • Speed 14.5 kts.
  • Complement 50
  • Armament: One 3"/50 dual purpose mount and two 20mm mounts
  • 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-371
    YMS-371 98k
    USS Hornbill (AMS 19)
    Hornbill 111k
    Namesake:

    Hornbill - A large bulky bird, noted for the enormous size of the bill. Their flight is slow and heavy, and their plumage is chiefly black and white

    		 Tommy Trampp
    Photo added 10 December 2021
    Hornbill 92k Joe Radigan
    USS Hornbill (MSC[O] 19)
    Hornbill 132k Mike Green
    Commanding Officers
    01LT John L. Grace, Jr., USNR29 February 1944
    02LT Otto Darby Tiderman, USN1951 - September 1952
    03LT Thomas Arthur Doyle, USNRSeptember 1952
    04LTJG Robert Allen Shaid, USN1955 - 1956
    05LT Charles Edwin Gurney, III, USN - USNA Class of 1952
    Awarded the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star and the Meritorious Service Medal - Retired as Rear Admiral    		1956 - 1957
    06LT Clement Davis Hamm, Jr., USN - USNA Class of 1953
    Retired as Captain    		1957 - 30 September 1957
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves and Joe Radigan
    View the YMS-371
    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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    This page created and maintained by Joseph M. Radigan
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