USS Lark (AM-21)
USS Lark on left
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| History | |
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| Name: | USS Lark |
| Builder: | Baltimore Dry Dock & Shipbuilding Co., Baltimore, Maryland |
| Laid down: | 11 March 1918 |
| Launched: | 6 August 1918 |
| Commissioned: | 12 April 1919, as Minesweeper No.21 |
| Decommissioned: | 7 February 1946 |
| Reclassified: |
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| Honours and awards: |
2 battle stars (World War II) |
| Fate: | Transferred to the Maritime Commission for disposal, 15 January 1947 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Lapwing-class minesweeper |
| Displacement: | 950 long tons (965 t) |
| Length: | 187 ft 10 in (57.25 m) |
| Beam: | 35 ft 6 in (10.82 m) |
| Draft: | 9 ft 9 in (2.97 m) |
| Speed: | 11.4 knots (21.1 km/h; 13.1 mph) |
| Complement: | 72 |
| Armament: | 2 × .50 cal (12.7 mm) machine guns |
The first USS Lark (AM-21) was a Lapwing-class minesweeper in the United States Navy. She was named for the lark.
Lark was laid down 11 March 1918 by Baltimore Dry Dock & Shipbuilding Co., Baltimore, Maryland; launched 6 August 1918; sponsored by Mrs. Henry A. Stanley; and commissioned 12 April 1919, Lt. Henry A. Stanley in command.
Lark departed Boston, Massachusetts 3 July 1919 to join the North Sea Minesweeping Detachment at Kirkwall, Orkney, Scotland. Reporting 15 July, she participated in the last three operations conducted to clear the more than 70,000 mines laid during World War I. The U.S. Navy had laid more than 80 percent of these mines and had accepted the responsibility of removing them. With the conclusion of the final sweep, 19 September, Lark returned to Kirkwall for a brief rest after the exacting assignment, made more dangerous by the strong winds, rough seas, and poor visibility of the North Sea. She got underway for the United States 1 October and steaming via Plymouth, England, Brest, and Lisbon, arrived New York 19 November.
The minesweeper operated from Gloucester, Massachusetts, along the U.S. East Coast, with winter deployments in the Caribbean, until 1931. During that period she transited the Panama Canal twice, on a voyage to Hawaii for Fleet Problem V in 1925. On 2 February 1931 she departed the Massachusetts coast for the Pacific Ocean, arriving at Oahu 25 April. She operated out of Pearl Harbor for the next 10 years, making periodic cruises to Samoa.
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