USS Astute
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | USS Astute (AMc-125) |
| Builder | Tampa Shipbuilding Company |
| Reclassified | AM-148, 21 February 1942 |
| Laid down | 7 December 1942 |
| Launched | 23 February 1943 |
| Sponsored by | Mrs. M. L. Haney |
| Commissioned | 17 January 1944 |
| Decommissioned | 19 July 1945[1] |
| Fate | Transferred to Soviet Navy, 19 July 1945 |
| Reclassified | MSF-148, 7 February 1955 |
| Stricken | 1 January 1983 |
| History | |
 Soviet Union | |
| Name | T-333[3] |
| Acquired | 19 July 1945[1] |
| Commissioned | 19 July 1945[1] |
| Fate | Scrapped 1960[2] |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Admirable-class minesweeper |
| Displacement | 650 tons |
| Length | 184 ft 6 in (56.24 m) |
| Beam | 33 ft (10 m) |
| Draft | 9 ft 9 in (2.97 m) |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 14.8 knots (27.4 km/h) |
| Complement | 104 |
| Armament |
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| Service record | |
| Part of: |
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USS Astute (AM-148) was an Admirable-class minesweeper built for the United States Navy during World War II and in commission from 1944 to 1945. In 1945, she was transferred to the Soviet Navy, in which she served as T-333.
Construction and commissioning
Originally classified as a "coastal minesweeper," AMc-125, Astute reclassified as a minesweeper, AM-148, on 21 February 1942. She was
launched on 23 February 1943, sponsored by Mrs. M. L. Haney, and commissioned
on 17 January 1944.
Service history
Following shakedown training, Astute transited the Panama Canal and joined the United States Pacific Fleet. She proceeded up the Pacific coast of North America and ultimately arrived in the Territory of Alaska, where she served during the latter part of 1944 and the first half of 1945 conducting patrol and escort duty.
Selected for transfer to the Soviet Navy in Project Hula – a secret program for the transfer of U.S. Navy ships to the Soviet Navy at Cold Bay, Alaska, in anticipation of the Soviet Union joining the war against Japan – Astute proceeded Cold Bay in the summer of 1945 and began training her new Soviet crew.[4]
Following the completion of training for her Soviet crew, Astute was
Soviet Far East.[4]
In February 1946, the United States began negotiations for the return of ships loaned to the Soviet Union for use during World War II, and on 8 May 1947,
James V. Forrestal informed the United States Department of State that the United States Department of the Navy wanted 480 of the 585 combatant ships it had transferred to the Soviet Union for World War II use returned. Deteriorating relations between the two countries as the Cold War broke out led to protracted negotiations over the ships, and by the mid-1950s the U.S. Navy found it too expensive to bring home ships that had become worthless to it anyway. Many ex-American ships were merely administratively "returned" to the United States and instead sold for scrap in the Soviet Union, while the U.S. Navy did not seriously pursue the return of others because it viewed them as no longer worth the cost of recovery.[5]
The Soviet Union never returned Astute to the United States, although the U.S. Navy reclassified her as a "fleet minesweeper" (MSF) and redesignated her MSF-148 on 7 February 1955.
Disposal
T-333 was scrapped in the Soviet Union in 1960.[2] Unaware of this, the U.S. Navy retained Astute on its Naval Vessel Register until finally striking her name on 1 January 1983.
References
- This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
- ^ large infantry landing craft (LCI(L)s) and information on p. 27 about the transfer of USS Coronado (PF-38), which Russell says typified the transfer process – indicating that Astute's U.S. Navy decommissioning, transfer, and Soviet Navy commissioning all occurred simultaneously on 19 July 1945.
- ^ ISBN 0-945274-35-1, p. 39, reports that the ship's Soviet name was T-333 and states that T-333 was scrapped in 1960. As sources, Russell cites Department of the Navy, Ships Data: U.S. Naval Vessels Volume II, 1 January 1949, (NAVSHIPS 250-012), Washington, DC: Bureau of Ships, 1949; and Berezhnoi, S. S., Flot SSSR: Korabli i suda lendliza: Spravochnik ("The Soviet Navy: Lend-Lease Ships and Vessels: A Reference"), St. Petersburg, Russia: Belen, 1994. Russell, p. 40., also states that T-523 – a Soviet name previously attributed to Astutee but now identified as belonging to the former USS YMS-144– was scrapped in 1946, ruling out this misidentification as a reason for confusion over the ship's fate, and it is unclear why NavSource asserts a 1954 scrapping date.
- ^ auxiliary motor minesweeper, the former USS YMS-144, also transferred in 1945, had the Soviet name T-523. As sources, Russell cites Department of the Navy, Ships Data: U.S. Naval Vessels Volume II, 1 January 1949, (NAVSHIPS 250-012), Washington, DC: Bureau of Ships, 1949; and Berezhnoi, S. S., Flot SSSR: Korabli i suda lendliza: Spravochnik ("The Soviet Navy: Lend-Lease Ships and Vessels: A Reference"), St. Petersburg, Russia: Belen, 1994.
- ^ ISBN 0-945274-35-1, p. 39.
- ISBN 0-945274-35-1, pp. 37–38, 39.
External links
 Soviet NavyLend-Lease |
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