USS Bluebird (AM-72)

History
United States
Orderedas M/V Maine
Laid down25 October 1930
Launched7 April 1931
Acquired13 August 1940
Commissioned22 November 1940
Decommissioned12 January 1945
Stricken19 January 1945
FateTransferred to Norway
General characteristics
Displacement520 tons
Length132 ft 4 in (40.34 m)
Beam24 ft (7.3 m)
Draught13 ft (4.0 m)
Propulsionone Fairbanks Morse diesel engine, 550shp, one shaft
Speed10 kts
Complementunknown
Armamentone single 3 in (76 mm) gun mount

USS Bluebird (AM-72) was an Albatross-class minesweeper acquired by the U.S. Navy during World War II for clearing minefields during fleet operations.

M/V Maine—a steel-hulled fishing trawler constructed in 1931 at Bath, Maine, by Bath Iron Works—was purchased by the Navy on 13 August 1940 from the Booth Fisheries Co., Boston, Massachusetts; renamed Bluebird and designated a minesweeper, AM-72, on 14 August 1940; converted to naval service at Boston, Massachusetts, by the General Ship & Engineering Works; and commissioned at the Boston Navy Yard on 22 November 1940.