USS Albatross (AM-71)
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | USS Albatross |
| Builder | Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine |
| Laid down | 25 October 1930 |
| Launched | 19 March 1931 as M/V Illinois |
| Acquired | by the US Navy, 9 August 1940 |
| Commissioned | 8 November 1940 |
| Decommissioned | 11 September 1944 |
| Renamed | USS Albatross, 14 August 1940 |
| Reclassified | IX-171 (Unclassified Miscellaneous Auxiliary), 1 June 1944 |
| Stricken | 23 September 1944 |
| Fate | Transferred to the Maritime Commission, 15 November 1944 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Albatross-class minesweeper |
| Displacement | 510 long tons (518 t) |
| Length | 147 ft 5 in (44.93 m) |
| Beam | 25 ft (7.6 m) |
| Draft | 12 ft (3.7 m) |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph) |
| Armament | 1 × 3"/50 caliber gun mount |
USS Albatross (AM-71) was an Albatross-class minesweeper of the United States Navy during World War II.
Originally laid down on 25 October 1930 as the steel-hulled fishing trawler MV Illinois by the Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine, she was launched on 19 March 1931 and delivered on 30 March 1931 to the Booth Fisheries Company, Boston, Massachusetts.
Acquired by the
Service history
World War II North Atlantic operations
Following her conversion for naval service as a
Iceland Area operations
Albatross left that port on 4 January 1942 in company with USS Linnet to join a British convoy bound for Iceland. En route to the rendezvous, the ships encountered heavy weather which forced them to change their course; and they reached Derry, Northern Ireland, on 16 January. Although Albatross had sustained minor damage, she was sent to Iceland via northern Scotland, Orkney, Shetland, and Faroe Islands. The minesweeper finally returned to the United States in July, when she arrived at the Boston Navy Yard. She left Boston as an escort for a convoy on 1 October and reached Greenland on 21 October. Albatross spent the remainder of the year in waters around Greenland.
Albatross strikes an iceberg
USS Albatross struck an iceberg on 7 January 1943, causing minor damage. Then an ice pack formed astern of the ship, blocking the ship's path until shifting winds cleared the ice, enabling her to leave Greenland on 12 January. She touched at Newfoundland on 3 February and then proceeded on to Boston, Massachusetts, arriving on the 8th. Albatross reached Norfolk, Virginia, on the 11th. After a month's overhaul, she got underway for Canada.
Collision with another ship
On 11 April, while operating out of
duties.Stranded in Greenland
Albatross spent the first six months of 1944 moored to the pier at
End-of-War decommissioning
Stripped of her military equipment, she was decommissioned on 11 September, and her name was struck from the
References
- This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
External links
Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in January 1943 | |
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Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in April 1943 | |
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