USS Symbol

Edit links
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
History
United States
NameUSS Symbol (AM-123)
BuilderSavannah Machinery and Foundry Co., Savannah, Georgia
Laid down18 November 1941
Launched2 July 1942
Commissioned10 December 1942
Decommissioned31 May 1946
Recommissioned28 October 1950
Decommissioned27 July 1956
Stricken1 July 1972
Honours and
awards
  • 5
    battle stars
    (World War II)
  • 2 battle stars (Korea)
FateSold to Mexico, 19 September 1972
Mexico
NameARM Guillermo Prieto (C71)
NamesakeGuillermo Prieto
Acquired19 September 1972
ReclassifiedG02[1]
RenamedARM Juan de la Barrera (P102), 1993[1]
Namesake
Juan de la Barrera
Statusin active service, as of 2007[1]
General characteristics
Class and typeAuk-class minesweeper
Displacement890 long tons (904 t)
Length221 ft 3 in (67.44 m)
Beam32 ft (9.8 m)
Draft10 ft 9 in (3.28 m)
Speed18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph)
Complement100 officers and enlisted
Armament

USS Symbol (AM-123) was an Auk-class minesweeper acquired by the United States Navy for the dangerous task of removing mines from minefields laid in the water to prevent ships from passing.

Symbol was laid down on 18 November 1941 by the

Savannah Machinery and Foundry Co., Savannah, Georgia
; launched on 2 July 1942; sponsored by Mrs. M. L. Mingledorf; and commissioned on 10 December 1942.

Atlantic Ocean operations

Symbol sailed to

Boston, Massachusetts, and returned to Norfolk, Virginia. The minesweeper stood out of Norfolk on 20 March en route to Iceland for duty. She arrived at Reykjavík
on the 31st and operated there until 22 July when she got underway to return to Norfolk. She remained at Norfolk from 30 July to mid-August.

Symbol was assigned to escort

antisubmarine and "E-boat" patrol at night. There was a heavy air attack on the 16th, and Symbol's guns splashed two German Focke-Wulf aircraft. The same day, she departed with a convoy for Palermo, Sicily, and returned on the 19th. On 21 September she went to the aid of SS William W. Gerhard, which had either hit a mine or been torpedoed, and took aboard 124 survivors. She departed with a convoy for Bizerte
on the 25th and returned with another on 1 October and remained for four days before returning to Bizerte.

Symbol shuttled between North African and Italian ports until 8 January 1944 when she arrived at

starboard
quarter just before hitting the water. The ship had four killed, 25 injured, and approximately 125 holes, some one and one-half inches long, in her hull and superstructure. She returned to Naples for repairs and held training exercises in July.

Symbol departed Naples, Italy, on 12 August as a convoy escort for ships destined to participate in

St. Tropez from 15 to 31 August; sweeping during the day and patrolling at night. She swept channels of Marseille from 2 to 17 and from 25 to 30 September. Symbol swept in the Golfe de Juan in late October and off Cannes from 1 to 13 November. After an overhaul at Bizerte, she returned to Golfe de Juan from 6 to 9 December and then sailed for Bizerte, via Sardinia
.

Symbol joined a convoy at Oran and sailed for the United States on 28 December 1944. She arrived at Norfolk, Virginia, on 17 January 1945 and was overhauled in preparation for duty in the Pacific.

Pacific Ocean operations

She stood out of Norfolk on 27 March for

Okinawa
.

Symbol arrived at

Sasebo for a week. The ship next swept the "Klondike" area of the East China Sea from 27 October until 8 November when she returned to Sasebo. The ship sailed on 25 November and arrived at Kiirin, Formosa, on the 28th to sweep the "Sherlys" area, north of that island. She departed Kiirun on 20 December for China and arrived at Shanghai
on the 22nd.

Symbol steamed out of Shanghai in early January 1946 bound for the United States via Pearl Harbor. Upon her arrival at San Diego, California, on 8 February, she was ordered to report to the

19th Fleet
for duty without a preinactivation overhaul.

Decommissioning

She was decommissioned on 31 May 1946. The minesweeper was given an overhaul at the Long Beach Naval Shipyard from 8 October to 26 November 1947 and returned to her berth at San Diego.

Second Commissioning

Symbol was towed to

sampans
running food and supplies along the coast. The two ships shot up a total of 70 sampans while boat crews captured seven, taking 30 prisoners. Symbol returned to Long Beach, California, from her first tour in Korea on 2 September 1952.

Symbol, in company with

Cheju Do, South Korea
, from 10 August to 15 September and off the southeast coast of Korea from 29 September to 20 October. The tour ended on 3 December 1953 at Long Beach.

Symbol was deployed to the western Pacific from 21 April to 10 November 1955 and operated along the Korean coast. Upon her return to California, she operated from her home port of Long Beach until 27 July 1956 when she was again placed in reserve, out of commission, and attached to the

Pacific Reserve Fleet
.

Final decommissioning

Symbol was struck from the

Navy list on 1 July 1972 and transferred to Mexico as a sale on 19 September 1972 to serve in the Mexican Navy as the ARM Guillermo Prieto (C71). The ship was later reclassified G02, before she was renamed to ARM Juan de la Barrera (P102) in 1993. As of 2007, Juan de la Barrera was in active service for the Mexican Navy.[1]

Awards

Symbol received five

battle stars for World War II
service and two for service in Korea.

Notes

  1. ^
    OCLC 140283156
    .

References

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=USS_Symbol&oldid=1208394882"