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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive
Original patch: Courtesy of Tom Gamstetter - Replacement patch: Mike Smolinski

Condor (MSC[O] 5)
ex-Condor (AMS 5)
ex-YMS-192



Call sign:
November - Zulu - Foxtrot - Sierra


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

  • The second Condor was laid down 30 September 1942 as YMS-192 by the Greenport Basin and Construction Co., Greenport, Long Island, NY
  • Launched 5 December 1942
  • Completed and commissioned USS YMS-192, 13 June 1943
  • YMS-192 served along the U.S. East Coast and in the Caribbean until the Atlantic War ended in May 1945
  • Sent to the Pacific, she took part in post-war mine clearance operations off Japan
  • YMS-192 returned to the U.S. in April 1946
    Naval Vessel Register of 1 January 1949 lists plan for decommissioning and placing in reserve as February 1947
  • Decommissioned in May 1946
  • While laid up in reserve at San Diego, CA she was reclassified as a Motor Minesweeper, AMS-5 and named Condor 18 February 1947
  • Recommissioned for Korean War service in November 1950, Condor deployed to the combat zone in March 1951
  • She provided minesweeping and patrol services off Korea and Japan to the end of the conflict in July 1953 and continued her activities in that area during the following years
  • Reclassified as a Coastal Minesweeper (Old), MSC(O)-5, 7 February 1955
  • Condor was loaned to Japan in March 1955 and renamed Ujishima (MCS 655)
  • Returned to the U.S. Navy in 1967
  • Struck from the Naval Register 31 March 1967
  • Sunk as a target in August 1968.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 270 t.
  • Length 136'
  • Beam 24' 6"
  • Draft 8'
  • Speed 15 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-192
    Condor 113k c. 1945-46, San Francisco Bay
    YMS-192 returning to the U.S. at the end of World War II
    U.S. Navy photo NH 79690    		 Naval Historical Center
    Condor (AMS 5)
    Condor 66k
    Namesake:

    Condor is the common name for two species of New World vultures, each in a monotypic genus. The name derives from the Quechua kuntur. They are the largest flying land birds in the Western Hemisphere. They are: The Andean condor (Vultur gryphus), which inhabits the Andean mountains. The California condor (Gymnogyps californianus), currently restricted to the western coastal mountains of the United States and Mexico and the northern desert mountains of Arizona in the United States

    		 Tommy Trampp
    Photo added 11 December 2021
    Defense 73k 8 October 1952
    Laertes (AR-20) at Sasebo, Japan, with nine minesweepers and a harbor tug alongside. Ships nested to left of Laertes are (from left): Impeccable (AM-320); Gladiator (AM-319); Shoveler (AM-382); Defense (AM-317) and Devastator (AM-318). Those nested to the right are (from left): Condor; Kite (AMS-22); Curlew (AMS-8); Chatterer (AMS-40) and
    Wallacut (YTB-420)
    National Archives photo 80-G-63229    		 Naval Historical Center
    AMS-5 Condor/LST-735 Dukes County 88k Dukes County LST-735 serving as mother ship for seven minesweepers, probably in a Japanese port, circa 1952-54. Ships nested alongside are: Gull (AMS-16); Firecrest (AMS-10); Condor; Merganser (AMS-26); Osprey (AMS-28); Competent (AM-316); and Chief (AM-315).
    U.S. Navy photo NH 68589
    Commanding Officers
    01LTJG Willard Cannell Broden, USNR1945 - 1946
    02LTJG Edward Charles Morin, USNNovember 1950 - March 1952
    03LT Richard William Geaney, USN (later USNR) - USNA Class of 1946March 1952 - July 1952
    04LT William Dennis Randell, USNJuly 1952
    05LT Donald Bagnall "Red" Meek, USN - USNA Class of 19501954 - 1955
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves and Joseph M. Radigan (of blessed memory)
    View the Condor (MSC[O] 5)
    DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Website
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