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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive
Courtesy of Mike Smolinski

Lorikeet (MSC[O] 49)
ex-Lorikeet (AMS 49)
ex-YMS-271



Call sign:
November - Foxtrot - Quebec - Golf
YMS-1 Class Auxiliary Motor Minesweeper:

  • The second Lorikeet was laid down 3 July 1942 by the Bellingham Marine Railway and Boatbuilding Co., Bellingham, WA
  • Launched 17 October 1942
  • Completed and commissioned USS YMS-271, 21 April 1943
  • Decommissioned 19 July 1946 at Boston, MA
  • Placed in service 1 September 1947 as a Naval Reserve training ship in the 1st Naval District (Boston) assigned to Quincy-Hingham, MA, reclassified as a Motor Minesweeper and named
    Lorikeet (AMS 49)
  • Recommissioned 17 March 1950
  • Reclassified as a Coastal Minesweeper (Old), MSC(O)-49, 7 February 1955
  • Decommissioned 18 September 1959 at New York
  • Placed in service 30 October 1959 as a Naval Reserve training vessel at Jersey City, NJ
  • Transferred to Perth Amboy, NJ in 1964
  • Placed out of service in October 1968. From 1 July 1964 to 3 September 1968, Lorikeet served as flagship for Commander, Naval Reserve Mine Division 31 and was based at Perth Amboy, N.J. She was
    relieved as flagship and Naval Reserve training ship by Meadowlark (MSC 196), not by Limpkin (MSC 195) as stated in her Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships entry
  • Laid up in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet, Philadelphia Navy Yard Group
  • Struck from the Navy Register 1 October 1968
  • Sold 10 December 1969 to John B. Clayton of Marietta, GA
  • Sold in 1972 to Port Canaveral Scallops, Inc. of Port Canaveral, FL and renamed Calico
  • Out of documentation in 1990
  • Fate unknown.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 215 t.
  • Length 136'
  • Beam 24' 6"
  • Draft 8'
  • Speed 13 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-271
    YMS-271 250k c. October 1942
    Prior to launching. Michael Collins is to the right
    From the collection of Michael Collins    		 James Collins
    USS YMS-271
    YMS-271/94/183 69k YMS-271, YMS-94, and YMS-183 alongside an unidentified tender Jim Matley
    YMS-271 224k 26 December 1944
    On sweeping duty in the South Pacific
    National Archives photo 80-G-315777    		 Mike Green
    YMS-271 52k 22 June 1946
    Naval Air Station Colon, Panama Canal    		 Richard W. Friedrich, F/1c, LSM-467
    USS Lorikeet (MSC[O] 49)
    Lorikeet 61k
    Namesake:

    Lorikeet - A small brightly colored bird of the lory or brush-tongued parrot family found in Australia and New Guinea

    		 Tommy Trampp
    Photo added 26 December 2021
    Bluebird 95k U.S. Navy Minecraft Base Charleston, SC. View of Pier Baker from Ashley River showing crowded mooring condition at pier
    U.S. Navy photo    		 Robert Hall
    Lorikeet (MSC[O] 49)
    Linnet 273k 20 January 1969
    Berthed at the U. S. Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility (NISMF), Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. Pictured in a nest with six sister MSC(O)’s. Linnet (MSC[O] 24 moored between Siskin (MSC[O] 58) and Reedbird (MSC[O] 51) with Lorikeet astern. The stern of the Light Cruiser Portsmouth (CL 102) can be seen between Linnet and Reedbird
    Official U.S. Navy photos taken by the shipyard for use in the sales catalog found on board old headquarters ship Chandeleur (AV 10) in early 1971 at NISMF    		 James Swank
    Plover 233k 20 January 1969
    Berthed at the U. S. Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility (NISMF), Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. Pictured in a nest with six sister MSC(O)’s. Lorikeet and
    Plover (MSC[O] 33). The stern of the Light Cruiser Portsmouth (CL 102) can be seen at right
    Official U.S. Navy photo taken by the shipyard for use in the sales catalog found on board old headquarters ship Chandeleur (AV 10) in early 1971 at NISMF
    YMS-271 260k 20 January 1969
    Berthed at the U. S. Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility (NISMF), Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. Pictured in a nest with six sister MSC(O)’s. Fulmar (MSC[O] 47) and Lorikeet and Plover (MSC[O] 33)
    Official U.S. Navy photo taken by the shipyard for use in the sales catalog found on board old headquarters ship Chandeleur (AV 10) in early 1971 at NISMF
    YMS-271 398k 20 January 1969
    Stern view of Lorikeet berthed at the U. S. Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility (NISMF), Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. Pictured in a nest with six sister MSC(O)’s
    Official U.S. Navy photo taken by the shipyard for use in the sales catalog found on board old headquarters ship Chandeleur (AV 10) in early 1971 at NISMF
    Turkey 355k 20 January 1969
    Berthed at the U. S. Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility (NISMF), Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. Turkey and Reedbird (MSC[O] 51) are pictured in a nest with six sister MSC(O)’s. Lorikeet is astern and to the right of Reedbird
    Official U.S. Navy photos taken by the shipyard for use in the sales catalog found on board old headquarters ship Chandeleur (AV 10) in early 1971 at NISMF
    Commanding Officers
    01LTJG Charles C. Roberts, Jr., USNR21 April 1943
    02LT Charles E. Scherneck, USN17 May 1943
    03LTJG Carl J. Verplank, USNR1945
    04LTJG William J. O'Brien, USN17 March 1950 - December 1950
    05LTJG Thomas Frank Gerecke, USNDecember 1950 - December 1951
    06LT William Haley Rogers, USN - USNA Class of 1947
    Retired as Rear Admiral    		December 1951 - August 1952
    07LTJG Robert L. Scott, USNAugust 1952 - 1953
    08LT Orlie Gordon Baird, USN1956
    09LCDR Alvin Masterson, Jr., USN1962 - 1965 (OIC)
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves and Joe Radigan
    View the Lorikeet (MSC[O] 49)
    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 (of blessed memory) & David Wright
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