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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Robin (MSC[O] 53)
ex-AMS-53
ex-YMS-311



Call sign:
November - Papa - Romeo - Juliet
YMS-1 Class Auxiliary Motor Minesweeper:

  • Laid down 7 May 1943 by Henry B. Nevins, Inc., City Island, NY
  • Launched 6 October 1943
  • Completed 5 November 1943
  • Commissioned USS YMS-311, 6 November 1943
  • Decommissioned 31 July 1946 and placed in service as a Naval Reserve training ship
    Naval Vessel Register of 1 January 1949 lists plan for placing in service as a Naval Reserve training ship in the 3rd Naval District (New York) as September 1947
  • Named Robin and reclassified as a Motor Minesweeper, AMS-53, 1 September 1947
  • Recommissioned in February 1952
  • Reclassified as a Coastal Minesweeper (Old), MSC(O)-53, 7 February 1955
  • Decommissioned 7 December 1957 and placed in service as a training ship at Tacoma, WA
  • Placed out of service in the summer of 1961
  • Struck from the Naval Register, 1 August 1961
  • Acquired in 1967 by Merle B. Parke of Fort Lauderdale, FL for use as a yacht
  • Operated in 1968 under the Mexican flag
  • Fate unknown.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 270 t.
  • Length 136'
  • Beam 24' 6"
  • Draft 10'
  • Speed 13 kts.
  • Complement 29
  • Armament: One 40mm mount, two 20mm mounts, two depth charge tracks 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
    USS Robin (AMS 53)
    Robin 66k Namesake: Robin - A North American thrush with a red breast Tommy Trampp
    Photo added 8 February 2020
    Robin 33k Historical Collections of the Great Lakes
    Robin 219k Naval History and Heritage Command photo UA 490.27 Mike Green
    Robin 226k c. 1951
    Weapons Station Yorktown, VA
    George Preston and Robin
    Courtesy of George Preston    		 Derick Hartshorn
    USS Robin (MSC[O] 53)
    Robin 123k c. Late spring 1957
    Off Panama City, FL
    U.S. Navy photo    		 Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships
    Robin 352k USS Robin (MSC[O] 53) arrives at the Naval Reserve Center, Vallejo, CA with the assistance of USS Lelaka (YTB 514) on 27 January 1960. She will nest outboard of the Naval Reserve Training Submarine USS Sunfish (SS 281)
    Vallejo Naval & Historical Museum photo MSC(O) 53 466X2-1-60    		 Darryl Baker
    Commanding Officers
    01LTJG Hamilton Young, USNR6 November 1943
    02LT G. M. Hardy, USNR1945
    03Chief Boatswain Hurston Clyde McBride, USN1950 - 10 August 1951
    04LT John David Bernard, Jr., USN10 August 1951 - 25 September 1952
    05LT Larry G. Parks, USNR25 September 1952
    06LT Jack Edward McQueston, USN1955
    ??LCDR Conrad Jonathan Rorie, USN - Retired as Rear Admiral.
    ??LCDR Laurence Albert Dwyer, USN.
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves and Joe Radigan
    View the Robin (MSC[O] 53)
    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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