HERON MSC(O) 18

Ship Name and Designation History

This section lists the names and designations that the ship had during its lifetime. The list is in chronological order.

YMS-1 Class Auxiliary Motor Minesweeper Keel Laid 13 January 1943 - Launched 24 July 1943 USS YMS-369 Commissioned 9 October 1943 - Decommissioned 2 March 1946 USS HERON AMS-18 Reclassified Motor Minesweeper (AMS) and named 7 February 1947 Recommissioned 15 July 1949 USS HERON MSC(O)-18 Reclassified Coastal Minesweeper (Old) (MSC(O)) 7 February 1955 Decommissioned 21 March 1955 NUWAJIMA MCS-657 (Japanese Naval Service) Transferred 21 March 1955 to the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force Returned to US Navy custody 31 March 1967 Struck from Naval Register 31 March 1967 Sunk as target 15 August 1969 by the Japanese Maritime Staff Office

Naval Covers

This section lists active links to the pages displaying covers associated with the ship. There should be a separate set of pages for each name of the ship (for example, Bushnell AG-32 / Sumner AGS-5 are different names for the same ship so there should be one set of pages for Bushnell and one set for Sumner). Covers should be presented in chronological order (or as best as can be determined).

Since a ship may have many covers, they may be split among many pages so it doesn't take forever for the pages to load. Each page link should be accompanied by a date range for covers on that page.

1. USS YMS 369 Covers Page 1     (DATE RANGE)
2. USS Heron AMS-18 Covers Page 1     (DATE RANGE)
3. USS Heron MSC(O)-18 Covers Page 1     (DATE RANGE)

 

Postmarks

This section lists examples of the postmarks used by the ship. There should be a separate set of postmarks for each name and/or commissioning period. Within each set, the postmarks should be listed in order of their classification type. If more than one postmark has the same classification, then they should be further sorted by date of earliest known usage.

A postmark should not be included unless accompanied by a close-up image and/or an image of a cover showing that postmark. Date ranges MUST be based ONLY ON COVERS IN THE MUSEUM and are expected to change as more covers are added.
 
>>> If you have a better example for any of the postmarks, please feel free to replace the existing example.

 

Postmark Type --- Killer Bar Text	Postmark Date	Thumbnail Link To Postmark Image	Thumbnail Link To Cover Image

 

Locy Type SLK2bn (30x5)

1952-06-30

From the Bob Govern collection.

 

Other Information

YMS-369 earned one battle star for her World War II service.

USS HERON earned eight stars for her participation in the Korean conflict.

NAMESAKE - A long-necked, long-legged wading bird, indigenous to Louisiana and the vast coastal marshes.

The ships sponsor was Miss Frances J. McCarthy, an employee of the firm.

Three ships of the US Navy have borne the name HERON - USS Heron AVP-2, USS Heron MSC(O)-18 and USS Heron MHC-52
One cutter of the US Coast Guard has borne the name HERON - USCGC Heron WPB-87344

 

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If you have images or information to add to this page, then either contact the Curator or edit this page yourself and add it. See Editing Ship Pages for detailed information on editing this page.

 

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