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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIPS --

USS Curlew (AMS-8, later MSC(O)-8), 1943-1956, originally named YMS-218

USS YMS-218, a 270-ton auxiliary motor minesweeper built at Tacoma, Washington, was commissioned in June 1943. She served in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater during World War II, and took part in occupation activities in late 1945 and early 1946. In early 1947, after returning to the U.S. West Coast, she was placed out of commission. YMS-218 was reclassified as a motor minesweeper (AMS) and renamed Curlew (AMS-8) in February of that year.

Curlew recommissioned in June 1949. She was sent to the Western Pacific a year later to support Korean War operations. During most of that conflict, she was active in the combat zone, performing mine clearance and blockade missions. Curlew remained in the Japan-Korea area after the war ended in mid-1953. She was redesignated MSC(O)-8 in February 1955 and transferred to Korea in January 1956. She served in the Republic of Korea Navy as Kum Hwa until discarded in about 1977.

This page features our only view of USS Curlew (AMS-8).

If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

Photo #: 80-G-632291

USS Laertes (AR-20)


At Sasebo, Japan, with nine minesweepers and a harbor tug alongside. Original photo is dated 8 October 1952.
Ships nested to left of Laertes are (from left):
USS Impeccable (AM-320);
USS Gladiator (AM-319);
USS Shoveler (AM-382);
USS Defense (AM-317) and
USS Devastator (AM-318).
Those nested to right are (from left):
USS Condor (AMS-5);
USS Kite (AMS-22);
USS Curlew (AMS-8);
USS Chatterer (AMS-40) and
Wallacut (YTB-420).

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

Online Image: 68KB; 740 x 605 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

 


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


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19 September 1999