USS Lindsey, a 2200-ton Robert H. Smith class light minelayer, was built at San Pedro, California. Begun as a destroyer (designated DD-771), she was converted to a minelayer while still under construction and was commissioned in August 1944. Following shakedown, Lindsey joined the fleet operating in the western Pacific. In February 1945, she provided gunfire support in support of the Iwo Jima invasion.

During the Okinawa campaign, on 12 April, Lindsey was hit by two Kamikaze planes, suffering damage that killed nearly sixty crewmembers and destroyed her bow. She was able to reach Guam, where temporary repairs in May-July 1945 made her seaworthy enough to return to the United States for permanent restoration. In May 1946, soon after that work was finished, Lindsey decommissioned. Assigned to the Atlantic Reserve Fleet, and redesignated MMD-32 in 1969, she remained "in mothballs" until stricken from the Naval Vessel Register in October 1970. USS Lindsey was expended as a target off the Virginia coast in May 1972.

USS Lindsey was named in honor of Lieutenant Commander Eugene E. Lindsey, who was killed in action on 4 June 1942, while leading Torpedo Squadron Six during the Battle of Midway.