USS Bluebird (MSC-121)
Broadside view of Bluebird off south end of Mare Island on 29 September 1953.
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| History | |
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 United States
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| Name: | Bluebird |
| Namesake: | Bluebird |
| Builder: | Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California |
| Laid down: | 5 February 1952 |
| Launched: | 11 May 1953 |
| Commissioned: | 24 July 1953 |
| Decommissioned: | 9 September 1968 |
| In service: | 9 September 1968 |
| Out of service: | 1 July 1971 |
| Reclassified: | Coastal Minesweeper, 7 February 1955 |
| Struck: | 2 January 1975 |
| Identification: |
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| Fate: | sold for scrap, September 1979 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Bluebird-class minesweeper |
| Displacement: | 330 long tons (340 t) |
| Length: | 144 ft 3 in (43.97 m) |
| Beam: | 28 ft (8.5 m) |
| Draft: | 12 ft (3.7 m) |
| Installed power: |
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| Propulsion: | 2 × screws |
| Speed: | 14 kn (26 km/h; 16 mph) |
| Complement: | 39 |
| Armament: |
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USS Bluebird (AMS/MSC-121) was a Bluebird-class minesweeper acquired by the US Navy for clearing minefields in coastal waterways.
The third Bluebird to be so named by the Navy, AMS-121 was laid down on 5 February 1952, at Vallejo, California, by the Mare Island Naval Shipyard; launched on 11 May 1953; sponsored by Mrs. G. C. Demmon; and commissioned on 24 July 1953, Lieutenant (jg) Warren C. Graham in command.
The minesweeper operated out of San Diego, California, performing the usual tasks such as type training and fleet exercises. She also engaged in some experimental work.
On 5 May 1954, however, Bluebird stood out of San Diego bound for Charleston, South Carolina. She transited the Panama Canal on 19 May, and after a visit to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, arrived in her new home port on 27 May. The minesweeper conducted normal training operations out of Charleston and in Chesapeake Bay for about a year.
On 7 February 1955, Bluebird was reclassified a coastal minesweeper and redesignated MSC-121. During the summer and fall of 1955, she participated in two Bureau of Ships projects. The first tested the effects of underwater explosions on minesweeper hulls and equipment. The second consisted of an overall evaluation of the Bluebird-class minesweeper. Later that fall, she joined in LantPhibEx 1-55 off Onslow Beach, North Carolina. Early in 1956, she was based at Yorktown, Virginia, but soon thereafter returned to her old home port, Charleston.
Charleston remained her home port for more than 12 years. In addition to the usual single-ship drills and type training, the minesweeper participated in such exercises as the annual NATO "Sweep Clear" exercises and Atlantic Fleet amphibious exercises. She tested minesweeping gear for the Mine Defense Laboratory at Panama City, Florida, and served as a school ship for the Mine Warfare School.
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