USS Towhee
History | |
---|---|
United States | |
Name | USS Towhee |
Laid down | 21 March 1944 |
Launched | 6 January 1945 |
Commissioned | 18 May 1945 |
Decommissioned | March 1954 |
Recommissioned | 1 April 1964 |
Decommissioned | 30 April 1969 |
Reclassified |
|
Stricken | 1 May 1969 |
Fate | Sold for scrapping, 6 March 1969 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Auk-class minesweeper |
Displacement | 890 long tons (904 t) |
Length | 221 ft 3 in (67.44 m) |
Beam | 32 ft (9.8 m) |
Draft | 10 ft 9 in (3.28 m) |
Speed | 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) |
Complement | 100 officers and enlisted |
Armament |
|
USS Towhee (AM-388) 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.
Towhee was named after the Towhee, a North American bird of the sparrow family.
Towhee was laid down on 21 March 1944 at
Shakedown voyage
Towhee departed Cleveland, Ohio, on 26 May, bound for the
Pacific Ocean operations
Leaving the
After spending a month under repair, Towhee again sailed for Japan on 28 December and proceeded via
East Coast operations
After a month of operations, Towhee departed Sasebo on 22 April, bound for the west coast, via Eniwetok and Pearl Harbor.
Towhee stood into
Towhee remained on active duty with the Atlantic Fleet through 1953.
Decommissioning
Towhee was decommissioned and laid up at Orange, Texas, in March 1954. On 7 February 1955, a fleet-wide redesignation of minecraft resulted in Towhee being redesignated as MSF-388. The minesweeper remained inactive through November 1963.
Reactivation as Oceanographic Survey Ship
In December of that year, the ship proceeded to the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, Pennsylvania, for activation and conversion to an oceanographic survey ship to replace Requisite (AGS-18) that was decommissioned and eventually scrapped. She was recommissioned on 1 April 1964 and redesignated as survey ship USS Towhee (AGS-28).
East Coast survey operations
Assigned to
Towhee then commenced a series of five oceanographic survey operations through the summer of 1965 before assisting in builder's trials for a nuclear submarine in the late summer. Navigational difficulties caused a premature return from the ship's sixth survey operation in late October, necessitating a tender availability alongside Cadmus (AR-14) before the survey ship departed Norfolk on 6 December and deployed once more for survey operations in the western Atlantic Ocean. The ship remained with the Atlantic Fleet through May 1966, when she underwent a tender availability alongside Amphion (AR-13) to prepare for shifting her operations back to the Pacific Upon completion of the tender availability, Towhee entered the Norfolk Naval Shipyard for installation of new communications equipment and air conditioning.
Pacific Ocean survey operations
She departed the shipyard on 1 July and the
After layovers at
Second WestPac deployment
On 18 September, Towhee departed
Towhee headed for Hawaii in April and conducted local operations in the Hawaiian area until 25 November 1968, when the survey ship headed for the west coast.
Towhee underwent a material inspection on 19 and 20 March 1969 at the conclusion of her west coast deployment, and the surveying board found the ship unfit for further service.
Decommissioning
Towhee was decommissioned on 30 April 1969, and custody was transferred to the Inactive Ship Facility at Vallejo, California On 1 May Towhee was struck from the Navy List and sold to the Learner Co. of Oakland, California, on 6 March for scrapping.
References
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
External links
- Photo gallery of USS Towhee at NavSource Naval History
- Ships of the U.S. Navy, 1940-1945 AM-388 USS Towhee
- USS Towhee website Archived 2007-09-29 at the Wayback Machine
- uboat.net - Minesweeper USS Towhee of the Auk class