High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! USS Kingfisher (AM-25/AT-135/ATO-135) was an Lapwing-class minesweeper acquired by the U.S. Navy for the dangerous task of removing mines from minefields laid in the water to prevent ships from passing. Kingfisher was launched 30 March 1918 by Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Puget Sound, Washington; sponsored by Miss Nancy Griswold; and commissioned 27 May 1918, Lt. (j.g.) C. L. Greene in command.Departing Bremerton, Washington, 17 June, Kingfisher steamed to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she arrived on 8 August for duty as a minesweeper off Cape May, New Jersey. On 5 April 1919 she departed Boston, Massachusetts, for the North Sea, arriving at Inverness, Scotland on 20 April. Assigned to the North Sea Detachment at Kirkwall, Orkney Islands, she swept up mines of the Northern Barrage until 1 October when she sailed for the United States. Steaming via France, Portugal, and the Azores, she reached New York on 19 November.