USS Nightingale (MSC(O)-50/AMS-50/YMS-290) was a YMS-1-class minesweeper of the YMS-135 subclass 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 fifth ship to be named Nightingale by the Navy, YMS-290 was built by the Associated Shipbuilding Co., Seattle, Washington, as YMS–290; launched 27 February 1943; sponsored by Miss Suzanne Marion, granddaughter of A. F. Marion, General Manager of Lake Union Drydock and Machine Works; and commissioned 17 July 1943.

She continued as a Naval Reserve training ship until March 1950, when she put in at Green Cove Springs, Florida, and decommissioned.

She operated out of Charleston, South Carolina, providing service along the U.S. East Coast from Yorktown, Virginia, to Panama City, Florida.

Her home port was temporarily shifted to Panama City 1 January 1955 while she provided services for the Navy’s Mine Defense Laboratory.