USS WARBLER SHIPS HISTORY 1957-1970
INCLUDING 1974
Special thank you to EN1 Edward PEED for his contribution of Ships History of 1957-1965.
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USS Warbler (MSC 206)
The second Warbler (AMS 206) was laid down on 15 October 1953 at Bellingham, Wash., by the Bellingham Shipyards Co.; launched 18 June 1954, sponsored by Mrs. S. A. Blythe; redesignated to MSC 206 on 7 February 1955; commissioned 26 July 1955, at the Naval Station, Tacoma, Wash., LTJG James S. Elfelt in command. USS Warbler (MSC 206), "Bluebird Class" coastal minesweeper nonmagnetic construction, wooden hull and stainless steel, aluminum, and bronze engine and hull fittings.
Following shakedown Warbler reported to Commander, Mine Force, Pacific Fleet, and operated locally out of Long Beach for the next year. In August 1956, in company with Whippoorwill, the minesweeper set sail for the Far East, to assume duties as flagship for Mine Division 32. Home porting out of Sasebo, Japan, Warbler would remain in the Far East over the next 14 years, participating in numerous mine exercises with the navies of other friendly far eastern nations such as South Korea, Nationalist China, the Philippines, and the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force.
Highlighting the ship's deployment to the Western Pacific (WestPac). Warbler conducted numerous tours 1964 - 1970 of duty on "Market Time" patrols off the coast of Vietnam. A small wooden craft especially designed for coastal minesweeping operations and deployments lasting from a few days to several weeks, Warbler and her sister 'sweepers filled the gap between the heavier units of the fleet, like the destroyers and destroyer escorts, and the small craft used for patrol purposes, until built-for-the-purpose patrol craft could enter the fray. During her "Market Time" cruises, Warbler boarded many junks, ascertaining cargo and destination; investigated contacts of steel-hulled vessels picked up on radar; and endured what at times appeared to be "fearfully strong weather that seemed bent on total destruction" of the ship. At times, boarding junks was an impossibility because of the vagaries of monsoon-type weather.
During one "Market Time" patrol, Warbler conducted a joint salvage evolution with the salvage vessel Conserver (ARS 39), in the spring of 1968. She located a downed aircraft, an F-100 "Super Sabre" fighter, and a wayward box of hypodermic needles. The ship also conducted extensive searches for an A-6 "Intruder", a medi-vac (medical evacuation) helicopter, and two target drones before the minesweeper cruised off the demilitarized zone (the DMZ) before heading home to Sasebo via the Nationalist Chinese port of Kaohsiung.
With 45 days of "Market Time" patrols under her belt in 1968, Warbler returned to that operating area off the coast of Vietnam in January of 1969, patrolling briefly near the port of Vung Tau.
Later that autumn, Warbler, in company with sister ship Whippoorwill (MSC 207), departed Sasebo on 5 September, bound for Taiwan and Mine Exercise "Canned Heat." Unfortunately beset with mechanical difficulties, went dead in the water in Formosa Strait after attempted repairs at Keelung, Taiwan, had proved ineffective. Eight hours after the ship stopped, Schofield (FFG-3) answered Warbler's call for assistance, and passed a tow to the heavily-rolling minecraft. By 10 September, after rapid repairs at Kaohsiung, Warbler was ready for sea, and participated in the scheduled slate of exercises. At the close of the year, the ship received counter-insurgency practice by tracking high-speed patrol boats sent out for exercise purposes by Commander, Mine Flotilla One.
The ship's last "Market Time" patrols, conducted in 1970, were similar to the ones she had conducted before, in past years, as she operated off the coast of Vietnam to aid in the interdiction campaign to cut off the flow of arms and munitions to the Viet Cong, in South Vietnam. For two months in 1970, Warbler patrolled between Cam Rahn Bay and Nha Trang, investigating suspicious contacts--none of which proved hostile. "Our greatest excitement during this patrol, " wrote her commanding officer later, "was provided by an occasional Soviet merchantman that would steam through our area and find himself shadowed and photographed by the mighty Warbler".
Whippoorwill consequently relieved Warbler of "Market Time" duties on 19 July 1970, and the latter got underway from Cam Rahn Bay for the succession of port visits to come. Two days after leaving the bay, however, the ship received a message directing her to return to the United States for decommissioning.
Departing Sasebo on 17 August and sailing via Pearl Harbor (for an overnight stop for fuel), Warbler reached the west coast of the United States on 17, September, in company with Catskill (MCS-1), Vireo (MSC 205) and Widgeon (MSC 208). On 1 October 1970, Warbler was decommissioned.
Simultaneously placed in service as a Naval Reserve Training (NRT) ship, homeported at Seattle, Wash., Warbler commenced her new duties soon thereafter. She trained reservists out of Seattle into the mid-1970"s, and was placed on the sale list in July 1975. On 14 October 1975, she was transferred, via cash sale, to the government of Fiji.
Warbler (MSC 206) was awarded seven engagement stars for her important services on "Market Time" patrols.
She was sold to the Royal Fiji Military Forces (RFMF), which created their Naval Division on 12 June 1976 to carry out fishery protection, surveillance, hydrographic surveying and Coast Guard duties. Fiji is located north of New Zealand and northeast of Australia.
No. New Name Commissioned Notes/Fate 204 Kikau (I) 10/14/75 Ex-USS Woodpecker (MSC209), comm'd 3/2/56. Deleted 1990.
205 Kula (I) 10/14/75 Ex-USS Vireo (MSC205), comm'd 7/6/55. Deleted 1991.
206 Kiro (I) ??/6/76 Ex-USS Warbler (MSC206), comm'd 7/23/55. Used as a training boat from 1991. Deleted 1996. Click on Kula which was the Vireo, and you will see the changes that the Fiji Navy made to her, it is assumed that the same was made to the Warbler.
The final fate of the Warbler was a sad ending. She served a long career with the U.S. Navy and then with the Fiji Navy. She was a proud ship, a ship that always committed herself to excellence and served her crew well.
Click here for the final outcome of the Warbler