From: Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships

A bird of the weaverbird family that has a bill with a waxy appearance; many, such as the Java sparrow, the amadavat, and the strawberry finch, are "cage" birds.

(YMS-479: dp. 320, I. 136'0", b. 24'6"; dr. 6'1'' (max.), s. 12 k.; cpl. 33; a. 1 3", 2 20mm.; cl. YMS-1)

The second Waxbill (MHC-50) was originally the wooden-hulled, unnamed motor minesweeper YMS-479. Laid down as PCS-1456 on 28 April 1943 at Tacoma Wash., by the Mojean and Ericson Shipbuilding Corp. the ship was reclassified as a motor minesweeper, YMS-479, on 27 September 1943. Launched on 30 September 1943, YMS-479 was commissioned at the Mojean and Ericson yard on 20 July 1944, Lt. Richard A. Woods USNR, in command.

After fitting out at the Todd Pacific Shipyard Tacoma, Wash., the new minecraft departed the Seattle area on 13 August. Making port at Long Beach, Calif. on the 17th, she conducted shakedown out of that port until 8 September, when she shifted to San Diego for training in antisubmarine warfare tactics. She departed San Diego on 25 September, when she sailed with YMS-59 as screen for a group of three LST's - LST-627, LST-1030 and LST-926 bound for the Hawaiian Islands.

After arriving at the Section Base, Pearl Harbor on 6 October, YMS-479 had begun patrolling off Kauai by the end of the month. She operated in the Hawaiian chain through February 1945, providing local escort services for ships conducting maneuvers and exercises off Maui, Kauai, or Oahu, ranging from attack transports (APA's) to LST's. During that time, she also carried out patrols and periodically tested her sweep gear.

Assigned to the Pacific Fleet on 6 March, the motor minesweeper departed Pearl Harbor on the 23d, bound for the Marshall Islands. She subsequently operated out of Eniwetok, Kwajalein, and Majuro through the end of the war in the Pacific in mid-August 1945.

Departing Kwajalein on 10 December, YMS-479 arrived at Pearl Harbor on Christmas Day and subsequently operated in the Hawaiian Islands into 1946. Departing Pearl Harbor on 20 February in company with Sheldrake (AM-62), YMS-479 arrived at San Francisco on 1 March and began preparations for inactivation. YMS-479 was accordingly decommissioned on 6 August 1946 and was placed in the San Diego group of the Reserve Fleet.

Named Waxbill and reclassified as AMS-39 on 18 February 1947 while still in reserve, the minecraft was taken out of "mothballs" on 5 January 1949, and work began to ready her to resume duty. On 19 January Waxbill was placed "in service" and, within a week she was assigned to the 13th Naval District. She served as a Naval Reserve training ship, attached to the Navy and Marine Corps Training Center at Seattle where she served through the spring of 1950.

With the onset of the Korean War in June and consequent American support for the United Nations intervention to aid the embattled South Koreans, the Navy expanded accordingly. Waxbill was recommissioned, albeit "in reserve," on 1 September 1950. Ultimately, she was placed in full commission on 25 September, Lt. (jg.) F. J. Crozier in command.

Duty in the inhospitable Korean waters soon beckoned Waxbill. The minecraft departed San Diego on 27 February 1951, bound for the Far East. After stopovers at Pearl Harbor and the Japanese ports of Sasebo and Yokosuka, Waxbill commenced her tour of Korean War service on 12 May in operation area "S". She participated in combat minesweeping operations off Wonsan, Pusan, Inchon, Kyoshin Tan, and To Jang Po into 1953. Her operations took her to both coasts of the Korean peninsula east and west and she swept over 40 mines, earning the Korean Presidential Unit Citation for her often hazardous and unsung minesweeping chores. During that time, she operated out of Sasebo and, in between deployments to Korean waters visited such Japanese ports as Kobe, Nagasaki, Yokosuka, Moji and Fukuoka.

Waxbill remained in the Far East even after hostilities in Korea ceased. She was reclassified as a coastal minehunter, AMCU-50, on 1 February 1955, and, only six days later, again reclassified MHC 50. After her conversion to a coastal minehunter, she departed Yokosuka on 10 August, bound for the United States

Sailing via Midway, Pearl Harbor, and Long Beach Waxbill made port at San Francisco on 8 September. She operated off the coast of southern California into 1958, visiting, in the course of that deployment such ports as Santa Cruz, San Francisco, and San Diego. Placed "in commission, in reserve," status on 1 May 1958 Waxbill was placed in the Stockton, Calif., group of the Pacific Fleet reserve, on 16 May, and was ultimately placed out of commission, in reserve, on 30 June 1958.

While exact details of the ship's ultimate fate are lacking, it is known that Waybill was struck from the Navy list on 1 November 1959.

Waxbill received six battle stars for Korean War service.