USS Sandpiper (AM-51)
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| History | |
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| Name: | USS Sandpiper |
| Builder: | Philadelphia Navy Yard, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Laid down: | 15 November 1918 |
| Launched: | 28 April 1919 |
| Commissioned: | 9 October 1919, as Minesweeper No.51 |
| Decommissioned: | 10 December 1945 |
| Reclassified: |
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| Struck: | 17 April 1946 |
| Fate: | Transferred to Maritime Commission, 12 October 1946 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Lapwing-class minesweeper |
| Displacement: | 840 long tons (853 t) |
| Length: | 187 ft 10 in (57.25 m) |
| Beam: | 35 ft 6 in (10.82 m) |
| Draft: | 10 ft 4 in (3.15 m) |
| Speed: | 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph) |
| Complement: | 78 |
| Armament: |
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USS Sandpiper (AM-51) was a Lapwing-class minesweeper. Laid down on 15 November 1918 at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and launched on 28 April 1919, USS Sandpiper (Minesweeper No.51) was commissioned on 9 October 1919, redesignated AM-51 on 17 February 1920, and reclassified as a Small Seaplane Tender, AVP-9 on 22 January 1936.
Although built as a minesweeper, Sandpiper performed aircraft tender duties throughout her career. Her assignments moved her from Train, Scouting Fleet; to Aircraft Squadrons, Scouting Fleet; to Aircraft Squadrons, Battle Fleet; to various individual squadrons and finally to patrol units and training commands.
Her duties — initially restricted to guarding plane flights, fueling planes, and towing seaplane barges — were gradually expanded. Transportation of aviation spares and personnel came with extended operations and new bases. Salvage and repair duties were added to her search and rescue work and were retained until ships designed for the purpose were built in the 1930s. The minesweeper/aircraft tender, however, was designated AM-51 in July 1920 and retained that hull number for over 15 years. On 22 January 1936, she was officially reclassified as a small seaplane tender and redesignated AVP-9.
Based at New York City and then at Norfolk, Virginia, through the 1920s and into the 1930s, Sandpiper operated with the fleet, off the mid-Atlantic and New England coasts during the summer and fall and in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico during the winter. Each spring, she returned north. While deployed for winter maneuvers, she participated in annual fleet problems, including problems I (February 1923) and IX (January 1929) in which the use of aircraft allowed the attacking force to break through, and render obsolete, the defenses of the Panama Canal Zone.
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