USS Blue Jay (AMc-23)

USS Blue Jay (AMc-23)

USS Blue Jay (AMc-23) was a coastal minesweeper acquired by the U.S. Navy during World War II for the dangerous task of removing mines from minefields laid in the water to prevent ships from passing.

Charles J. Ashley—a wooden-hulled “dragger” (fishing craft) built in 1936 at Thomaston, Maine, by the Wilbur Morse Shipyards—was acquired by the Navy from John G. Murley of Fairhaven, Massachusetts, on 5 November 1940; renamed Blue Jay and classified as a coastal minesweeper, AMc-23, on 22 November 1940; converted to a minecraft at the Neponset, Massachusetts, shipyards of George Lawley & Sons; and placed in service at the Boston Navy Yard on 22 June 1941, Lt. Hiram S. Walker, Jr., USNR, in charge.