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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Grackle (MSC(O) 13)
ex-Grackle (AMS 13)
ex-YMS-312



Call sign:
November - Papa - Papa - Foxtrot


Grackle served the Navies of the United States and Brazil.
YMS-1 Class Auxiliary Motor Minesweeper:

  • The second Grackle was laid down 7 June 1943 by Henry B. Nevins Inc., City Island, NY
  • Launched 9 November 1943
  • Completed 4 December 1943
  • Commissioned USS YMS-312, 6 December 1943
  • Detached from the Caribbean Sea Frontier 10 November 1944
  • Named Grackle and reclassified as a Motor Minesweeper, AMS-13, 18 February 1947
  • Reclassified as a Coastal Minesweeper (Old), MSC(O)-13, 7 February 1955
  • Placed in service, in reserve 16 September 1957
  • Decommissioned 11 October 1957 at Philadelphia, PA
  • Struck from the Naval Register 1 March 1963
  • Transferred to the Government of Brazil 19 April 1963 under terms of the Military Assistance Program and renamed Jurvena (M 14)
  • Fate unknown.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 270 t.
  • Length 136'
  • Beam 24' 6"
  • Draft 8'
  • Speed 13 kts.
  • Complement 50
  • Armament: One 3"/50 dual purpose gun mount, two 20mm mounts and one depth charge projector
  • 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-312
    YMS-312 62k Launching
    Courtesy of the City Island Nautical Museum    		 Tom Nye
    USS Grackle (MSC[O] 13)
    Grackle 31k
    Namesake:

    Grackle - An American blackbird

    		 Tommy Trampp
    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
    YMS-312 223k c. December 1958
    New Bedford, Massachusetts
    U.S. Navy photo NH 89227    		 Naval History and Heritage Command
    Photo added 7 February 2021
    Commanding Officers
    01LTJG Ray G. Huling, USN6 December 1943
    02LTJG Lyman E. Gregory, USNR1944
    03LT Stanley Edward Sweeder, USN1950 - December 1951
    04LT Harry R. Lawson, USNRDecember 1951 - December 1952
    05LTJG Robert V. Vaughn, USNRDecember 1952 - December 1954
    06LTJG Gordan Van Hook, USN - USNA Class of 1951
    Retired as Commander    		December 1954 - August 1957
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves, Joe Radigan and Gordan Evans Van Hook
    View the Grackle (MSC[O] 13)
    DANFS history entry located on the Naval History and Heritage Command 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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