Condor I (AMc-14)
1941-1946
A large American vulture found in the high Andes.
I
(AMc-14: displacement 185; length 85'11"; beam 24'9"; speed 9 knots; armament 2 .30-caliber machine guns)
The wooden-hulled purse seiner [fishing vessel] New Example, built at Tacoma, Washington, in 1937, was acquired by the Navy on 28 October 1940 from the New Example Fishing Company. Accepted that same day, she underwent conversion at the Martinolich Shipbuilding Company, San Diego, Calif., to a coastal minesweeper. Assigned to the Fourteenth Naval District on 1 March 1941, Condor (AMc-14) was placed in service at San Diego on 18 April 1941, Ens. Monroe H. Hubbell, USNR, officer-in-charge.
Escorted by the oiler Tippecanoe (AO-21), Condor sailed for the Territory of Hawai on 14 May 1941, and reached her destination along with her escort on 28 May to begin service out of Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii.
Late in the mid watch on 7 December 1941, while sweeping off the entrance channel, Condor spotted a suspicious object in the water and summoned the destroyer Ward (DD-139) to investigate. Subsequently, Ward discerned what proved to be a Japanese Type A [midget] submarine attempting to gain entrance, and attacked with gunfire and depth charges, sinking the submersible and sending a report to the Commandant, Fourteenth Naval District, of the action just concluded. Japanese carrier planes' arrival, however, overtook the warning process, and surprised the fleet.
Ultimately placed out of service at San Diego on 17 January 1946 and stricken from the List of District Craft on 7 February 1946, she was transferred to the Maritime Commission for disposal on 24 July 1946.
Updated, Robert J. Cressman
31 May 2022
