USS Kingbird (AMS-194)

History
United States
Name	Kingbird
Namesake	Kingbird
Builder	Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California
Laid down	26 February 1954
Launched	21 May 1954
Commissioned	27 April 1955
Reclassified	Coastal Minesweeper, 7 February 1955
Stricken	1 July 1972
Identification	Hull symbol: AMS-194 Hull symbol: MSC-194
Fate	Sold for scrap, 1 March 1973
General characteristics [1]
Class and type	Bluebird-class minesweeper
Displacement	290 long tons (290 t)
Length	144 ft 3 in (43.97 m)
Beam	28 ft (8.5 m)
Draft	9 ft (2.7 m)
Installed power	4 × Packard 600 hp (450 kW) diesel engines 2,400 hp (1,800 kW)
Propulsion	2 × screws
Speed	13 kn (24 km/h; 15 mph)
Complement	39
Armament	2 × 20 mm (0.8 in) Oerlikon cannons anti-aircraft (AA) mounts

USS Kingbird (AMS-194) was a Bluebird-class minesweeper acquired by the United States Navy for clearing coastal minefields.

The second ship to be named Kingbird was laid down 26 February 1954, as AMS-194; launched 21 May 1954 by the Quincy Adams Yacht Yard, Inc., Quincy, Massachusetts; sponsored by Mrs. Marion Cushman Wilson; reclassified MSC-194 on 7 February 1955; and commissioned on 27 April 1955.^[2]

After shakedown, Kingbird arrived Charleston, South Carolina, for minesweep training and for the entire year she perfected methods of detecting and destroying mines. She also participated in exercises which kept her ready for any service she might be called upon to perform. From 1956 through 1964, Kingbird engaged in minesweeping exercises along the Atlantic coast from Nova Scotia to the Panama Canal Zone in the Caribbean. During 1965, she displayed her versatility in two search operations: one for a downed Navy plane and the other a lost merchant ship. In 1967, she still operated out of Charleston.^[2]

Kingbird was struck from the Navy Register on 1 July 1972, and disposed of through the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service for scrap, 1 March 1973.^[1]

Citations

• Photo gallery of USS Kingbird (AMS/MSC-194) at NavSource Naval History