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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Hornbill (AMc 13)

Sunk 30 June 1942
Coastal Minesweeper:

  • The first Hornbill was built as the fishing boat J. A. Martinolich by the J. A. Martinolich Shipbuilding of Tacoma, WA
  • Launched in 1938
  • Delivered in 1940
  • Acquired by the Navy 7 December 1940 and commissioned USS Hornbill (AMc 13)
  • Sunk 30 June 1942 after a collision with the lumber schooner, Esther Johnson in San Francisco Bay
  • Struck from the Navy Register 24 July 1942.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 195 t.
  • Length 85'
  • Beam 20' 11"
  • Draft 5'
  • Depth of Hold 10' 5"
  • Speed 10 kts.
  • Complement 11
  • Armament: One .30 cal. machine gun
  • Propulsion: One diesel engine, one shaft.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    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 175k Off Mare Island Navy Yard on June 16, 1941
    Mare Island Navy Yard photo 1231-41    		 Mike Green
    Hornbill 103k Hornbill's Commanding Officer and two sailors pose in her pilot house in September of 1941. The placards above the helmsman define anchor chain fathom markings and bell signals
    for maneuvering
    National Archives photo 80-G-463818    		 Tracy White
    Hornbill 140k Hornbill's cooks pose in her galley in early September 1941
    National Archives photo 80-G-463821
    Hornbill 254k c. September 1941
    Tied up at Yerba Buena island in San Francisco Bay. She is painted in Camouflage Measure 1, consisting of 5-D Dark Gray with 5-L Light gray above the top of her smoke stack. The eastern section of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge is in the background
    National Archives photo 80-G-463823
    View the Hornbill (AMc 13)
    DANFS history entry located on the Naval History and Heritage Command website
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