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| - 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."
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| - 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 trawlers, 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-boats 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.
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