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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Mockingbird (MSC[O] 27)
ex-Mockingbird (AMS 27)
ex-YMS-419



Call sign:
November - Quebec - Alpha - Oscar


Mockingbird served the Navies of the United States and the Republic of Korea.
YMS-1 Class Auxiliary Motor Minesweeper:

  • Laid down 17 September 1943 by Henry C. Grebe and Co., Chicago, Illinois
  • Launched 23 March 1944
  • Completed 28 October 1944
  • Commissioned USS YMS-419, 18 November 1944
  • Reclassified as a Motor Minesweeper, AMS-27 and named Mockingbird 17 February 1947
  • Reclassified as a Coastal Minesweeper (Old), MSC(O)-27, 7 February 1955
  • Decommissioned, 6 January 1956 and transferred to South Korea as Ko Chang (MSC[O]-521)
  • Sold to South Korea 1 November 1974
  • Struck from the Navy Register 15 November 1974
  • Fate unknown.

    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 projectiles
  • 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-419
    Mockingbird 117k c. 1944/1945
    U.S. Navy photo NH 96909    		 Naval Historical Center
    Mockingbird 243 Original photo: c. 1945
    Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1974
    U.S. Navy photo NH 79733
    Replacement photo: Courtesy of Jim Milloholland    		 Original photo: Naval Historical Center
    Replacement photo: Alan Cole
    Sprig 128k Nested along with Sprig (AM 384), YMS-442, YMS-220, and YMS-468
    From the collection of Joseph Richard who served in 1945 in Sprig    		 Joe Richard, Jr.
    USS Mockingbird (AMS 27)
    Mockingbird 67k
    Namesake:

    Mockingbird - A small bird of the thrush family, which imitates the calls of other birds; found in the southern United States

    		 Tommy Trampp
    Photo added 15 December 2021
    Mockingbird 47k U.S. Navy photo NH 96909 Naval History and Heritage Command
    Mockingbird 121 Mockingbird deploys an acoustic hammer box during sweep operations off Wonsan, Korea, in October 1950. The original photo is dated 23 October 1950
    National Archives photo 80-G-422164    		 Naval Historical Center
    Incredible 125k Commanding Officers of Mine Division Thirty-one in conference off Korea, 26 October 1950. Probably taken in the wardroom of USS Incredible
    (AM 249)     during minesweeping operations off Wonsan

    Those present are (from left to right):
    Lieutenant Edward P. Flynn, Commanding Officer of USS Incredible;
    Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Nicholas Grkovic, CO of USS Kite (AMS 22);
    Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Robert C. Fuller, CO of USS Partridge (AMS-31);
    Lieutenant Commander D'Arcy V. Shouldice, Commander, Mine Division 31;
    Lieutenant (Junior Grade) T.R. Howard, CO of USS Redhead (AMS-34);
    Lieutenant (Junior Grade) James P. McMahon, CO of USS Chatterer (AMS-40);
    Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Philip Levin, CO of USS Osprey (AMS-28) and
    Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Stanley P. Gary, CO of Mockingbird
    National Archives photo 80-G-422081

    		 Robert Hurst
    Mockingbird 101k Deploying a float from a U.S. Navy minesweeper (AMS), off Wonsan, North Korea. Original photo is dated 14 November 1950. This ship is probably USS
    Mockingbird (AMS-27)
    National Archives photo from the Naval History and Heritage Command 80-G-42597    		 Russ Padden
    Mockingbird 91k Sailors put a float over the side of U.S. Navy minesweeper (AMS) during mine clearance operations off Wonsan, North Korea. Original photo is dated 14 November 1950. This ship is probably USS Mockingbird (AMS-27)
    National Archives photo from the Naval History and Heritage Command 80-G-42598
    Mockingbird 84k Streaming a float from U.S. Navy minesweeper (AMS) during mine clearance operations off Wonsan, North Korea. Original photo is dated 14 November 1950. This ship is probably USS Mockingbird (AMS-27).
    National Archives photo from the Naval History and Heritage Command 80-G-42599
    Mockingbird 74k Crewman operating a winch aboard USS Mockingbird (AMS-27), during mine clearing operations off Wonsan, North Korea. The ship's name is on a lifering mounted on the bulwark in the lower right. Original photo is dated 14 November 1950.
    National Archives photo 80-G-426009    		 Robert Hurst
    Mockingbird 64k Crewman attaches a cable cutter to the sweep wire of a U.S. Navy minesweeper (AMS) during mine clearance operations off Wonsan, North Korea. Original photo is dated 14 November 1950. This ship is probably USS Mockingbird (AMS-27).
    National Archives photo from the Naval History and Heritage Command 80-G-426011    		 Russ Padden
    Mockingbird 68k Mockingbird explodes an enemy mine in the Chinnampo area, off North Korea's Yellow Sea coast. Original photo is dated, 3 March 1953.
    U.S. Navy Photo 478497    		 Naval Historical Center
    Mockingbird 130k Mockingbird cleans water off Chinnampo, Korea inshore of Comstock (LSD 19), shortly before a raid by marine units.
    U.S. Navy photo from the August 1953 issue of All Hands magazine    		 Joseph M. Radigan (of blessed memory)
    AMS-8 75k c. 1953
    Sasebo, Japan
    Curlew (AMS 8), Mockingbird, Heron (AMS 18), and Gull (AMS 16)    		 Wayne Schafer
    Mockingbird 58k c. 1953
    Sasebo, Japan.
    Curlew 115k c. December 1955
    Sasebo, Japan
    Kite (MSC(O) 22), Curlew (MSC(O) 8) and Mockingbird, just before departing for Korea and handover to the ROKN    		 Stan Cochran, LTJG, Engineer Officer USS Kite (1955-1956)
    Ko Chang (MSC[O] 521)
    Mockingbird 49k c. 1967
    Mockingbird 75k c. 1959
    South Korean Navy photo from the 1959/1960 edition of Jane's Fighting Ships    		 Robert Hurst
    Commanding Officers
    01LTJG Francis Everett Pearson, III, USN (Later USNR) - USNA Class of 1946August 1946 - January 1947
    02LTJG Stanley Platt Gary, USN - USNA Class of 1947
    Awarded the Silver Star (1950) - Retired as Captain    		1950 - May 1951
    03LTJG S. S. Smith, USNMay 1951 - June 1952
    04LT Richard Louis Rodier, USNJune 1952 - 1953
    05LT Rex Edmond Maire, USN - USNA Class of 19501953 - 1954
    06LT Frank Charles Kretchman, USN1954 - 6 January 1956
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves and Joseph M. Radigan (of blessed memory)
    View the Mockingbird (MSC[O] 27)
    DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Website
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    This page was created by Gary P. Priolo & maintained by Joseph M. Radigan (of blessed memory) & David Wright
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