USS Vireo (AM-52) was a U.S. Navy Lapwing-class minesweeper, No. 52, reclassified on 1 June 1942 as a fleet tug. The bulk of her combat career was served in this capacity.

She was laid down on 20 November 1918 by the Philadelphia Navy Yard; launched on 26 May 1919; sponsored by Mrs. E. S. Robert; and commissioned on 16 October 1919.

Vireo was assigned to the Train, Atlantic Fleet, and operated along the U.S. East Coast until departing Norfolk, Virginia, on 8 January 1920 to join the Fleet for its annual winter maneuvers in Cuban waters. She arrived back in Norfolk on 28 April and was reclassified AM-52 on 17 July 1920.

In the following years, while some of her sisterships were decommissioned and laid up in reserve, Vireo continued in active service with the Fleet. From 1920 to 1932, she served off the U.S. East Coast engaged in towing targets; transporting men, mail, and materiel; repairing buoys and beacons; and operating with the Atlantic and Scouting Fleets.

In July 1921, she towed several former German warships to sea off the Virginia Capes, where they were sunk by aircraft in attempts to prove that capital ships were vulnerable to attack from the air. Between December 1930 and March 1931, Vireo served as plane guard for aircraft engaged in supporting the Nicaraguan-Puerto Rican aerial survey.

Late in 1931, Vireo received orders assigning her to the U.S. Pacific Fleet and duty with the Train, Base Force. Departing Norfolk on 2 January 1932, Vireo steamed—via Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and the Panama Canal—to the U.S. West Coast, arriving at San Pedro, California, on 6 March. Attached to the Pacific Fleet's Train, the minesweeper continued her Fleet support duties and ranged the Pacific from the California coast to Panama and the Hawaiian Islands.

With the emergence of an intransigent Japan and a tense Far Eastern situation, the focus of American Fleet operations shifted westward to Hawaii; and Vireo departed San Francisco, California, on 10 November 1940, bound for Pearl Harbor. Soon after reaching Hawaiian waters, she commenced operations out of Pearl Harbor, towing target rafts, conducting minesweeping exercises, and performing towing service to some of the outlying islands of the Hawaiian group, including Palmyra Island and Johnston Island.

From 5 September to 7 October 1941, Vireo underwent a navy yard overhaul at the Mare Island Navy Yard before heading westward once again. On 7 December 1941, Vireo lay in a nest of her sisterships at the coal docks at Pearl Harbor, which included USS Rail (AM-26), USS Bobolink (AM-20), and USS Turkey (AM-13). Shortly before 0800 that morning, Japanese aircraft roared overhead. The marauders swept over the Fleet's base and devastated not only Pearl Harbor, but outlying Army and Navy installations all over the island of Oahu.