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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Hornbill (MSC[O] 19)
ex-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
  • 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 1955
  • Struck from the Naval Register 1 November 1959
  • Sold 30 June 1960 and renamed Los Buscaderos
  • Sold in 1968 and renamed Peacock
  • Renamed Spirit of America
  • Sunk at Scorpion Anchorage, Santa Cruz Island, California.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 245 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
    YMS-371
    YMS-371 98k . .
    Hornbill (AMS 19)
    Hornbill 92k . Joe Radigan
    Commanding Officers
    01LT John L. Grace, Jr., USNR29 February 1944
    06LTJG Robert Allen Shaid, USN1955 - 1956
    07LCDR 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
    08LT 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
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    Naval Minewarfare Association
    Association of Minemen
    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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