USS Firecrest (AMc-33) was a coastal 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. The wooden-hulled purse seiner S. G. Giuseppe, built in 1937 at Wilmington, Los Angeles, by the boatbuilders Trigoning and Carlson, was acquired by the Navy from M. B. Giuseppe, of San Pedro, Los Angeles, on 5 November 1940, and delivery and acceptance by the Commandant, 11th Naval District, took place the same day. Conversion to a coastal minesweeper began immediately, at the Campbell Machine Co., of San Diego, California; renamed Firecrest and designated as a coastal minesweeper (AMc-33), the ship was placed in service on 4 April 1941, Ensign Charles S. Judson, Jr., USNR, officer-in-charge.