USS Viking (ARS-1)
USC&GS Guide | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| United States | |
| Name | USS Flamingo (AM-32) |
| Namesake | Flamingo |
| Owner | United States Navy |
| Builder | New Jersey Drydock and Transportation Company, Elizabethport, New Jersey |
| Laid down | 18 October 1917 |
| Launched | 24 August 1918 |
| Commissioned | 12 February 1919 |
| Decommissioned | 5 May 1922 |
| Fate | Transferred to U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey 23 January 1923 |
| United States | |
| Name | USC&GS Guide |
| Namesake | Guide, a person who leads anyone through unknown or unmapped country |
| Owner | U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey |
| Acquired | 23 January 1923 by U.S. Department of Commerce via transfer from U.S. Navy |
| Homeport |
|
| Nickname(s) | Guide and survey ships USC&GS Discoverer and USC&GS Pioneer collectively were known as the "Bird Boats" |
| Fate | Transferred to U.S. Navy 27 June 1941 |
| United States | |
| Name | USS Viking (ARS-1) |
| Owner | United States Navy |
| Acquired | 27 June 1941 |
| Commissioned | 3 January 1942 |
| Stricken | 19 April 1953 |
| Fate | Sold for scrapping, 22 July 1953 |
| General characteristics as minesweeper | |
| Class & type | Lapwing-class minesweeper |
| Displacement | 850 tons |
| Length | 180 ft (55 m) |
| Beam | 35 ft 6 in (10.82 m) |
| Draft | 9 ft (2.7 m)9½" |
| Propulsion | Triple expansion reciprocating steam engine, two Babcock & Wilcox boilers, one shaft. |
| Speed | 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph) |
| Complement | 78 |
| Armament | 2 × 3"/50 caliber gun mounts |
| General characteristics as survey ship | |
| Type | Survey ship |
| Displacement | 850 to 950 tons |
| Length | 187.8 ft (57.2 m) |
| Beam | 35.5 ft (10.8 m) |
| Draft | 9.8 ft (3.0 m) |
| Installed power | 1,200 shaft horsepower (1.6 megawatts) |
| Propulsion | Two 200-psi Babcock & Wilcox boilers; Harlan and Hollingsworth vertical triple expansion engine; one shaft |
| Speed | 14 knots |
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USS Flamingo (AM-32) was a Lapwing-class minesweeper built for the United States Navy near the end of World War I. After service overseas clearing mines after the Armistice, the ship was laid up until 1922 when she was transferred to the United States Department of Commerce for use by the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey. Renamed USC&GS Guide, the ship operated as a survey vessel along the West Coast of the United States for 17 years, making significant contributions to navigation, hydrographic surveying, and oceanography. In June 1941, Guide was transferred back to the Navy, converted into a salvage ship, and renamed USS Viking (ARS-1). As Viking, she worked primarily from bases in California until 1953, when she was sold for scrapping.