Albatross YMS-80

Albatross

V

(YMS 80: dp. 320,1. 136', b. 25', dr. 10', s. 14.5 k., cpl. 32, a
1 3", 2 20mm., 2 .50-car. mg.; cl. YMS-1)

The fifth Albatross was laid down as YMS-8O on 27 June 1941 by the Stadium Yacht Basin, Inc. Cleveland, Ohio, launched on 5 May 1942; and commissioned on 15 July 1942, Lt. Charles Bulfinch in command.

The minesweeper sailed on 16 August, via Lake Erie and the St. Lawrence River, for Boston. After being fitted out at the Boston Navy Yard from 2 to 15 September, the ship was as signed to the Mine Warfare School at Yorktown, Va She reported there on 24 October and served as a personnel training ship. YMS-8O detached from this duty on 13 March 1943 and remained in the Norfolk area through the end of June. On 4 July, she reported to Portland, Maine, for antisubmarine warfare training with Task Group 27.1. After one and one-half months at Portland YMS-8O sailed to Newport, R. I., on 25 August and operated in the Narragansett Bav area into the autumn.

On 13 November, YMS-8O switched to her new home port at Key West, Fla. Her duties there varied from retrieving targets to acting as a reference and target vessel. On 17 February 1947 she was named Albatross and redesignated AMS-1.

Albatross spent the remainder of her career based at Key West, operating to various points along the Florida coast and in the Caribbean. Her designation was changed to MSC(O)-1 on 10 February 1955, and she was transferred to the Commander, 6th Naval District for administrative and operational control. Albatross was decommissioned and simultaneously struck from the Navy list on 20 March 1958. She was sold on 19 February 1959 to Dorado, Inc., Wildwood, N.J.