USS Avocet ( AVP - 4 ) USS " Avocet " ( AM - 19 / AVP - 4 ) was a " Lapwing " - class minesweeper initially acquired by the U . S . Navy for the dangerous task of removing mines from minefields laid in the water to prevent ships from passing . " Avocet " was commissioned at the Norfolk Navy Yard , on 17 September 1918 , as a minesweeper with Lieutenant Christian Crone in command . Recommissioned on 8 September 1925 as a small seaplane tender , USS " Avocet " ( AVP - 4 ) was present during the Pearl Harbor attack on 7 December 1941 . The ship survived the war , and was sold as a hulk on 6 December 1946 . " Avocet " s role in the Attack on Pearl Harbor . At about 0745 on Sunday , 7 December 1941 , " Avocet ' s " security watch reported Japanese planes bombing the seaplane hangars at the south end of Ford Island and sounded general quarters . Her crew promptly brought up ammunition to her guns and the ship opened fire . The first shot from " Avocet " s starboard 3 in ( 76 . 2 mm ) gun scored a direct hit on a Nakajima B5N 2 carrier attack plane ( " Kate " ) that had just scored a torpedo hit on the battleship , moored nearby . The " Kate " , from the aircraft carrier ' s air group , caught fire , slanted down from the sky , and crashed on the grounds of the naval hospital , one of five such planes lost by " Kaga " that morning . Initially firing at torpedo planes , " Avocet " s gunners shifted their fire to dive bomber s attacking ships in the drydock area at the start of the forenoon watch . Then , sighting high altitude bombers overhead , they shifted their fire again . Soon afterwards five bombs splashed in a nearby berth , but none exploded . From her veritable ringside seat , " Avocet " then witnessed the sortie of the battleship , the only ship of her type to get underway during the attack . Seeing the dreadnought underway , after clearing her berth astern of the burning battleship , dive - bomber pilots from " Kaga " singled her out for destruction , 21 planes attacking her from all points of the compass . " Avocet " s captain , Lieutenant William C . Jonson , Jr . , marveled at the Japanese precision , writing later that he had never seen " a more perfectly executed attack . " " Avocet " s gunners added to the barrage to cover the battleship ' s passage down the harbor . Although the ship ceased fire at 1000 , much work remained in the wake of the devastating surprise attack . She had expended 144 rounds of 3 in ( 76 . 2 mm ) and 1 , 750 of . 30 in ( 7 . 62 mm ) ammunition in the battle against the attacking planes , and had suffered only two casualties : a box of ammunition coming up from the magazines had fallen on the foot of one man , and a piece of flying shrapnel had wounded another . Also during the course of the action , a sailor from the small seaplane tender " Swan " ( AVP - 7 ) , unable to return to his own ship , had reported on board for duty , and was immediately assigned a station on a . 30 in ( 7 . 62 mm ) machine gun . Oil from ruptured battleship fuel tanks had been set afire by fires on those ships , and the wind , from the northeast , was slowly pushing it toward " Avocet ' s " berth . Accordingly , the seaplane tender got underway at 1045 , and moored temporarily to the magazine island dock at 1110 , awaiting further orders which were not long in coming . At 1115 , she was ordered to help quell the fires still blazing on board " California " . She spent 20 minutes fighting fires on board the battleship with the submarine rescue ship " Widgeon " ( ASR - 1 ) , and was then directed to proceed elsewhere . Leaving " California " at 1215 , she reached the side of " Nevada " 25 minutes later , ordered to assist in beaching the battleship and fighting her fires . Mooring to " Nevada " s port bow at 1240 , " Avocet " went slowly ahead , pushing her aground at channel buoy no . 19 , with fire hoses led out to her forward spaces and her signal bridge . For two hours , " Avocet " fought " Nevada " s fires , and succeeded in putting them out .