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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Grouse (MSC[O] 15)
ex-AMS-15
ex-YMS-321



Call sign:
November - Quebec - Alpha - Alpha

Destroyed 28 September 1963
YMS-1 Class Auxiliary Motor Minesweeper:

  • The second Grouse was laid down as YMS-321, 29 August 1942 by the Al Larson Boat Shop Inc., Terminal Island, CA
  • Launched 20 February 1943, sponsored by Mrs. H. Doty
  • Completed and commissioned as USS YMS-321, 25 October 1943
  • Named Grouse and reclassified as a Motor Minesweeper, AMS-15, 18 February 1947
  • Reclassified as a Coastal Minesweeper (Old), MSC(O)-15, 7 February 1955
  • Decommissioned 12 September 1957 and placed in reserve at Portland, ME
  • Placed in service 13 November 1958
  • Ran aground 21 September 1963 at Rockport, MA on the Little Salvages at Latitude 42° 40' 24"N, Longitude 70° 34' 29"W
  • Destroyed by explosives 28 September 1963 and struck from the Naval Register.

    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 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 Grouse (AMS 15)
    Grouse 108k
    Namesake:

    Grouse - A game bird, smaller than the domestic hen, with mottled plumage; also known as "prairie hen" and "sage cock"

    		 Tommy Trampp
    YMS-321 87k Joe Radigan
    YMS-321 211k Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 89228 Mike Green
    Commanding Officers
    01LTJG James George Newman, USNR25 October 1943 - 15 October 1944
    02LTJG Donald M. Geahry, USNR15 October 1944
    03LTJG Horace Scott Powers, USN1946 - 1947
    04ENS Willis Dean Lawler, USN (Temporary)1947 - 1947
    05LTJG Horace Scott Powers, USN1947
    06LTJG Darrell Dean Ruebsamen, USN - Awarded the Legion of Merit and the Navy Commendation Medal
    Retired as Captain    		1949 - 20 November 1950
    07LTJG William Frank Regan, USN - USNA Class of 194720 November 1950 - November 1951
    08LT Gilbert E. Waterman, USNRNovember 1951 - October 1952
    09LTJG James R. Gross, USNOctober 1952
    10LT Willis Clifford Barnes, USN - Retired as Rear Admiral1953
    11LT Arthur Richard Hasler, Jr., USN1955
    12LTJG K. G. Houghton, USN13 November 1958
    13LCDR Allen E. McCartney, Jr., USNR1962 - 28 September 1963
    ??LCDR Sumner Kittelle Moore, USN - USNA Class of 1948-B
    Retired as Commander
    ??LT Strauss Samuel Leon, USN
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves and Joe Radigan
    View the Grouse (MSC[O] 15)
    DANFS history entry located on the Naval History and Heritage Command website
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    This page created and maintained by Joseph M. Radigan (of blessed memory) & David Wright
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