USS Viking ( ARS - 1 ) USS " Flamingo " ( AM - 32 ) was a built for the United States Navy near the end of World War I . After service overseas clearing mines after the Armistice , the ship was laid up until 1922 when it was transferred to the Commerce Department for use by the United States Coast & Geodetic Survey . Renamed USC & GS " Guide " , the ship performed research duties on the West Coast of the United States for nearly 20 years . In June 1941 , " Guide " was transferred back to the Navy and was named repair ship USS " Viking " ( ARS - 1 ) . She worked primarily from bases in California until 1953 , when she was sold for scrapping . USS " Flamingo " . The first USS " Flamingo " ( AM - 32 ) was laid down 18 October 1917 by the New Jersey Drydock and Transportation Co . , Elizabethport , New Jersey ; launched , 24 August 1918 ; Commissioned " USS Flamingo " , Minesweeper No . 32 , 12 February 1919 ; " Flamingo " fitted out at the New York Navy Yard and later shifted to Tompkinsville , Staten Island , New York , on 29 March . The minesweeper performed various towing jobs and carried stores locally in the 3d Naval District into the spring of 1919 . On 10 April , she suffered damage in a collision with an unnamed Panama Railroad Co . tug , and underwent repairs at Port Richmond , Staten Island . Shifting to the New York Navy Yard soon thereafter , USS " Flamingo " began fitting out " for distant service . " " Flamingo " departed Tompkinsville on 18 May , bound for the Orkney Islands . Proceeding via Boston , Massachusetts , the minesweeper arrived at Kirkwall , Scotland , on 5 June , to begin her tour of duty with the United States Minesweeping Detachment , North Sea . Along with American subchasers , chartered British naval trawler s , and fellow Lapwing - class sweepers , " Flamingo " would participate in the clearing of the North Sea Mine Barrage . Laid by the United States Navy after America entered World War I , the barrier had served as a formidable obstacle for German U - boat s based at North Sea ports . By 1919 , however , the barrage hampered the resumption of peaceful commerce . On 23 June , " Flamingo " transported officers and men from Kirkwall to Inverness , Scotland , and returned to her base in the evening carrying supplies for the detachment flagship , " Black Hawk " ( AD - 9 ) ( Destroyer Tender No . 9 ) . The minesweeper then performed tugboat duty at Kirkwall between 25 June and 7 July . Four days later , she sailed to assist in clearing group 11 of the mine barrage in the second phase of the fourth clearance operation conducted by the Minesweeping Detachment . The first days were uneventful . On 15 July , " Flamingo " anchored for the night , as was usual practice , to the northward of the minefield . During the ensuing evening hours , strong winds and currents caused the ship to drag her anchor . She slowly worked southward from her original position . The next morning , when " Flamingo " weighed her anchor to get underway , she discovered that she had drifted into the minefield and had fouled one of the horned spheres in her anchor cable . The deadly device was trailing just beneath the fantail of the ship . The mine exploded beneath " Flamingo ' s " stern . The underwater blast badly damaged the rudder , disabled the capstan and generator , and dished in the ship ' s stern plating in several places . " Eider " ( AM - 17 ) ( Minesweeper No . 17 ) lent assistance and towed " Flamingo " to Invergordon , Scotland , for drydocking and repairs on 17 July . " Flamingo " was ready to return to the base at Kirkwall by early in the next month . She transported a cargo of steel and lumber to " Black Hawk " on her return voyage , arriving at Kirkwall on 13 August . Two days later , the minesweeper towed her crippled sister ship Pelican ( AM - 27 ) ( Minesweeper No . 27 ) to South Shields , England , for drydocking and repairs in the wake of her mining the previous month . Later in August , " Flamingo " resumed her minesweeper duties with the detachment , working out of the Norwegian ports of Lervic , Stavanger , and Haugesund before returning to Kirkwall via Otters Wick , Orkney , on 7 September . She subsequently participated in the final sweep of the mine barrage — the climactic sweep which detonated five mines , cut loose 47 , and destroyed 50 — into late September . Once the arduous and dangerous job was complete , " Flamingo " and her sister ships could head home to the United States for a well - earned rest . " Flamingo " departed Kirkwall on 1 October and — after a voyage which took the minecraft via Plymouth and Devonport , England ; Brest , France ; Lisbon , Portugal ; the Azores ; and Bermuda — eventually arrived at Tompkinsville on 20 November . The pause at Tompkinsville was a brief one , however , for " Flamingo " was underway five days later — on 25 November — bound for the Portsmouth Navy Yard in Maine . She arrived on the 28th and soon commenced an overhaul . Assigned to the 1st Division , 2d Mine Squadron , Atlantic Fleet , on 1 July 1920 , " Flamingo " received the classification AM - 32 on 17 July , as the Navy adopted its modern system of alphanumeric hull numbers . The minesweeper operated with the 2d Mine Squadron into the autumn of 1920 , until placed in reserve at the Portsmouth Navy Yard on 18 November . USC & GS " Guide " . " Flamingo " remained inactive for almost a year and one - half before an executive order of 25 March 1922 authorized the Navy to transfer the vessel to the Commerce Department , and she was accordingly decommissioned on 5 May 1922 . Turned over to the U . S . Coast and Geodetic Survey for use as a survey vessel , at Portsmouth , on 23 January 1923 , the erstwhile minecraft was renamed USC & GS " Guide " , first ship of the name , on 1 March 1923 . After she had been converted and fitted out on the United States East Coast , USC & GS " Guide " departed New London , Connecticut , bound for her new duty station , San Diego , California . On her voyage to the west coast , the ship made history by using — for the first time by a vessel of the U . S . Coast and Geodetic Survey — a sonic depth finder to measure and record the depth of the sea at points along her course . Before she reached San Diego , California — the date of her arrival has not been found , but she transited the Panama Canal on 8 December — USC & GS " Guide " had accumulated much data beneficial to the study of the movement of sound waves through water and measuring their velocity under varying conditions of salinity , density , and temperature . Based at San Diego , California , and surveying off the west coast of the United States , USC & GS " Guide " performed her important duties for the U . S . Coast and Geodetic Survey for nearly two decades . Meanwhile , as war clouds gathered and tension mounted in Europe and the Far East in the late 1930s , the United States Navy expanded to meet the emergency — especially after the outbreak of hostilities following the German invasion of Poland in September 1939 . On 27 June 1941 , USC & GS " Guide " was transferred back from the U . S . Coast and Geodetic Survey to the U . S . Navy . USS " Viking " . " Viking " ( ARS - 1 ) , a conversion of " USC & GS Guide " , was required for the World War II war effort . On 25 July 1941 , work to convert the ship to a salvage vessel began at the San Diego Marine Construction Co . During the reconfiguration , on 5 August , the U . S . Navy renamed the ship " Viking " , third ship of the name , and classified her ARS - 1 . While the alterations were still in progress , Japanese aircraft attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 plunging the United States into World War II . Placed " in service " on 3 January 1942 , " Viking " was pronounced ready for duty on 12 February . Manned by a civilian crew and operated from San Diego , California , by the Merritt , Chapman , and Scott salvage firm — a civilian company working under a contract let by the Bureau of Ships — " Viking " stood ready to perform salvage and rescue tasks in the 11th Naval District . Between 3 and 6 July 1942 , " Viking " assisted two local patrol craft , " YP - 267 " and " YP - 269 " , which had run aground off San Diego , towing them both back to port for repairs . From the ship ' s movement reports , " Viking " appears to have spent an uneventful autumn and winter at her home port . She shifted to San Francisco , California , briefly in January 1943 , en route to Guadalupe to perform emergency salvage operations under the aegis of the Commander , Western Sea Frontier . Returning to San Diego , California , in February , the salvage vessel operated there into 1944 . On 27 October , " Viking " sailed for San Pedro for refit and returned to San Diego later in November . On the last day of 1944 , Viking departed her home port in company with " Tenino " ( ATF - 115 ) , bound for Clipperton Island . There , the two vessels joined " Seize " ( ARS - 26 ) to free the grounded LST - 563 . During the rescue operation , " Viking " suffered damage from heavy seas and put into San Diego for repairs soon thereafter . The salvage vessel subsequently operated out of San Diego and San Pedro , California through the end of World War II in mid - August 1945 . She performed tug and tow services with ships ranging in size from destroyers to LST ' s into the 1950s . In December 1949 , she aided the grounded steamer off the south point of Santa Rosa Island . Eventually , " Viking ' s " area of operations embraced Long Beach and Port Hueneme , California , as well as the San Diego locale . Relieved by " Gear " ( ARS - 34 ) as salvage vessel for the 11th Naval District , " Viking " was returned to Navy custody by the Merritt , Chapman , and Scott salvage firm . On 17 March 1953 , she was authorized for disposal ; and her name was struck from the Navy list on 19 April 1953 . She lay at the Naval Supply Depot , San Pedro , California , until sold on 22 July 1953 to Nathan Cohen and Son , Inc . , of Los Angeles , California . The veteran of service in the United States Navy , as well as of the U . S . Coast and Geodetic Survey , was scrapped soon thereafter .