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Naval History and Heritage Command

Naval History and Heritage Command

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  • DANFS (Dictionary of American Fighting Ships)
  • Minesweeper
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  • Ship History
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  • World War II 1939-1945
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Magpie I (AMc‑2)

1941-1944

Any of numerous birds, especially of the genus Pica, related to the crow, but having a long graduated tail and black and white plumage, who are known for their noisy chatter.

I

(AMc‑2: displacement 210; length 85'4"; beam 23'4"; speed 10.0 knots; armament 2 .30 caliber machine guns, 4 rifles)

The fishing vessel City of San Pedro—built in 1936 at Terminal Island, Calif., by the Harbor Boat Building Co.—was acquired by the Navy on 18 October 1940. Converted into a coastal minesweeper by the Harbor Boat Building Co., she was renamed Magpie on 29 October 1940, and, designated as a coastal minesweeper, AMc-2, was placed in service on 28 March 1941.


Magpie (AMc‑2)
Caption: Magpie around the time she was delivered to the Navy, painted in No.5 Navy Gray, with her Mine Force insignia and identification number at her bow. Atop the pilot house can be seen an ammunition locker, with what appears to be a nameboard on the centerline, with the letters M and A visible. (U.S. Navy Bureau of Ships Photograph BS 24593, National Archives and Records Administration, Still Pictures Branch, College Park, Md.)

Assigned to the Fifteenth Naval District, Magpie departed San Pedro on 10 May 1941 for the Panama Canal Zone, arriving there on 22 May. She performed minesweeping and patrol operations out of Balboa until 7 August 1944 when she departed for the west coast, reaching San Diego on 26 August. Magpie was placed out of service at San Pedro on 6 October 1944; stricken from the Navy Register on 22 December 1944; and delivered to the War Shipping Administration for return sale to her former owner on 5 February 1945.

Updated, Robert J. Cressman

18 August 2022

Published: Wed Aug 24 12:18:20 EDT 2022