USS Triumph (AM-323)

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History
United States
NameHMS Espoir (BAM-23)
BuilderAssociated Shipbuilders,
Seattle, Washington
Laid down27 October 1942
RenamedUSS Triumph (AM-323), 23 January 1943
Launched25 February 1943
Commissioned3 February 1944
Decommissioned30 January 1947
Recommissioned28 February 1952
ReclassifiedMSF-323, 7 February 1955
Decommissioned29 August 1955
ReclassifiedMMC-3, 4 December 1959
Stricken1 March 1961
Honours and
awards
6
battle stars
(World War II)
FateTransferred to Norway, 27 January 1961
History
Norway
NameHNoMS Brage (N49)
Acquired27 January 1961
FateScrapped, 1978
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 Triumph (AM-323) was a World War II Auk-class minesweeper of the United States Navy.

The ship was laid down as HMS Espoir (BAM-23) for the

Seattle, Washington, by the Associated Shipbuilding Corp. The ship was taken over by the United States Navy
in late 1942 or early 1943; named USS Triumph and designated AM-323 on 23 January 1943. It was launched on 25 February 1943; and commissioned on 3 February 1944.

In 1961 it was transferred to the Norwegian Navy and served as Brage until 1978

World War II Pacific operations

Following outfitting at Seattle, Washington, and

San Francisco, California, on 1 May as a unit in the escort of an Oahu-bound convoy. She arrived in Pearl Harbor on the 10th and, after a five-day layover, joined the screen of a convoy bound for the Marshall Islands. She entered the lagoon at Majuro on 25 May; two days later, headed back to Hawaii
with 24 passengers embarked; and reached Pearl Harbor on 2 June. She got underway again late in the month to escort another convoy to the Marshalls. She reentered Pearl Harbor on 16 July and prepared for her first deployment in the combat zone.

On 12 August, Triumph stood out of Pearl Harbor with a convoy bound initially for the

Florida Island near Guadalcanal on 24 August and conducted minesweeping rehearsals in the Russell Islands to prepare for the invasion of the Palaus
.

On 8 September, she departed Guadalcanal with Task Group (TG) 32.4, the transport screen for the

Kossol Passage at dawn on 15 September and began sweeping mines from the prospective anchorage there. At about 1430 on the next day, Wadleigh (DD-689) struck a mine while supporting the sweeping of Kossol Passage as destruction vessel. Triumph sent a fire and rescue party to assist the destroyer — by then completely without power — and took over her duties as destruction vessel destroying five floating mines by gunfire. Following that, she stood by Wadleigh until dark, providing what assistance she could. She then took up screening station for the night. Minesweeping operations continued on a daily basis until 18 September when Triumph was devoted entirely to screening and harbor control duties. She remained in the Palaus until mid-October — though at Peleliu
after 30 September — and then got underway to screen a convoy to the Solomons.

After stops in the Russell Islands and at

antisubmarine
screening duty at Peleliu in the south and at Kossol Passage in the north, as well as escorting ships between the two.

On 11 November, Triumph left the Palaus in company with a

Coast Guard cutter Spencer (WPG-36). Triumph reached recently invaded Leyte on the morning of 30 November and began preparations for the flanking landings at Ormoc Bay
on the western shore of the island.

Attacked by Japanese fighter planes

After five days patrolling the San Pedro Bay anchorage against enemy

bombers
overflew the unit but made no attack.

Just before noon, the minesweeper and her mates reached

destroyers
of the outer screen bore the brunt of the attack. The raids ceased at dark; and, early the next morning, task unit TU 78.3.6 reentered San Pedro Bay.

Supporting landings at Mindoro

Triumph remained at San Pedro Bay until the afternoon of 12 December when she got underway to participate in the occupation of Mindoro. On the second day out, the task organization came under aerial attack. Just after midday, a kamikaze crashed into the flagship Nashville (CL-43), and the light cruiser was forced to drop out of formation and return to San Pedro Bay with Stanly (DD-478).

Additional raids occurred that afternoon, but they caused no damage. By the morning of 14 December, the unit was passing

Nakajima Ki-43s. The enemy planes dropped three bombs off Triumph's port quarter but caused no damage. An American combat air patrol
drove the raiders off, and the minesweepers completed their mission by late afternoon. Just after midnight on 15 December, Triumph and her mates reached the beaches on the southwestern coast of Mindoro.

At 0225, they began sweeping the invasion approaches. They completed their task less than three hours later and moved out while the invasion force moved in. Later, she joined in sweeps of Pandarochan Bay; then returned to Mindoro Strait to form up for the return to Leyte. At 1830, she departed Mindoro and, after a brief but intense aerial attack at dusk, voyaged peacefully back to the anchorage at San Pedro Bay, anchoring there a little after 0800 on the 18th. For the remainder of the month, she remained at San Pedro Bay and conducted antisubmarine patrols in Leyte Gulf.

Supporting the Luzon invasion

On 2 January 1945, the minesweeper once again departed San Pedro Bay — this time to participate in the initial invasion of Luzon. The four-day voyage to the beaches at Lingayen Gulf was punctuated by a number of Japanese air assaults. An inconclusive air-to-surface battle on the night of 2 January was followed by the first attack in earnest on the 3d. Shortly after dawn, a formation of A6M Zeroes pounced on the convoy. One near-miss of the oiler Cowanesque (AO-79) caused a fire amidships. All ships joined in a withering fire that discouraged suicide runs; and, consequently, no ship suffered a direct hit.

The next morning, enemy planes approached the formation, but combat air patrol downed some and chased others away. On the 5th, general quarters sounded five times before noon, but Triumph observed no planes. Later, three warships peeled off to chase two Japanese destroyers sighted off the convoy's quarter. The enemy ships, however, managed to escape. At 1700, a formation of Aichi D3As hit the task force. Six of them attempted suicide crashes, but only one came close to its target — an LCI — which lost its mast in the encounter. Early the next morning, the force reached its destination off the beaches at Lingayen Gulf.

Between 6 and 9 January, Triumph conducted pre-invasion sweeps of the assault areas in Lingayen Gulf. Though the main

Mindanao Sea, Surigao Strait
, and Leyte Gulf, the Allied ships arrived in San Pedro Bay on the 19th.

She remained there until 25 January when she headed out to resume action off Luzon. She reached Subic Bay and swept its coastal waters. On 4 February, she departed and headed back to Leyte, stopped at San Pedro Bay from 8 to 13 February, then put to sea once again on her way to the Marianas.

Duty with the Fifth Fleet

Triumph entered

Operation Iceberg, the invasion and occupation of the Ryūkyūs
. She arrived at Ulithi the following day and began a period of rest, repairs, and rehearsals.

Early in the afternoon of 19 March, Triumph sailed put of the lagoon at Ulithi with the Ryukyu Islands invasion force. When she arrived at her destination early on the morning of the 24th, Triumph and her division mates joined the Shea (DM-30) and a patrol craft in minesweeping operations. On the 26th, the destroyer Halligan (DD-584) struck a mine, and it caused explosions in her forward magazine which ripped off most of her forward section. Two ships of Triumph's unit proceeded to assist the stricken warship but managed to rescue only 172 members of Halligan's 325-man complement.

The following day, the division swept 15 mines of which Triumph claimed three. On the 28th, her formation endured its first air raid of the campaign when three enemy planes dived in to attack. The formation shot all three done. The minesweeper continued sweeping operations through the end of the month. She and her colleagues concluded their mission on the eve of the landings, 31 March, and began duty with the task force's antisubmarine screen.

At 0600 the following morning —

Okinawa
.

Screening for kamikazes

During the ensuing four months, Triumph alternated screening duties with

yardarm
, and splashed down not far from Triumph.

The

Ie Shima, she brought two enemy planes under fire but could not definitely claim credit for the one splashed by antiaircraft fire. Combat air patrol
accounted for the other one. Between mid-May and mid-June, she executed her patrols and sweeps under relatively calm circumstances.

Under attack by a torpedo plane

On 15 June, however, she experienced another potentially fatal adventure. At dusk, Triumph was patrolling north of

starboard
to evade the torpedo. It passed in her wake, a scant 30 yards astern. Darkness precluded any real antiaircraft response, so Triumph resumed her patrols. Three days after that attack, the minesweeper put into Kerama Retto for supplies and upkeep.

Triumph remained in Kerama Retto through the end of June. On the 30th, she got underway to rehearse for sweeps into the

Buckner Bay, located on the western coast of Okinawa, on Bastille Day
. There she replenished and refueled over a three-day period before returning to the East China Sea to resume mine-sweeping operations.

However, just before beginning that mission, she was detached from the East China Sea minesweeping force and was ordered to report to task force TF 39 for further orders. On 17 July, she was forced to leave the anchorage at Buckner Bay to evade a typhoon. After serving in the antisubmarine screen of the ships forced out of the anchorage, the warship returned to Buckner Bay on 21 July and remained there, awaiting orders, until 5 August. On that day, she stood out of the bay as a unit in the screen of a convoy of tank landing ships.

Japan capitulates

Two days later, she took PGM-11 in tow after the latter ship suffered an engine casualty. On the 11th, Triumph parted company with the convoy to tow PGM-11 into Apra Harbor, Guam. With Pledge (AM-277) and YMS-341 in escort, the minesweeper entered Apra Harbor on the morning of 12 August. Three days later, she received word of the Japanese capitulation.

Triumph remained at Guam for a month undergoing repairs. She departed on 12 September to participate in the occupation of Japan and former Japanese possessions. She served her entire tour of occupation duty at Okinawa, arriving there on 18 September and departing again on 19 October.

Stateside overhaul and decommissioning

After stops at Guam and Hawaii, she returned to the United States at San Francisco, California, on 15 December. She underwent an extensive overhaul at the

San Diego, California
on 30 January 1947.

Peacetime operations

Triumph remained in reserve at San Diego until early 1952. After extensive preparations during the late fall of 1951 and the winter of 1952, she was recommissioned at San Diego on 28 February 1952. The warship reported for duty with the

U.S. 6th Fleet. Following another tour of duty in the western Atlantic early in 1954 and a second deployment to the Mediterranean during the winter of 1954 and 1955, Triumph began preparations for deactivation in the spring of 1955. On 7 February 1955 she was redesignated MSF-323. On 29 August 1955, Triumph was decommissioned and placed in reserve at Green Cove Springs, Florida
.

Exit from U.S. service

There, she remained until late in 1959. During that period, she changed designations again on 4 December 1959 when she was redesignated Coastal Minelayer MMC-3. Late in 1959, the decision was made to transfer her to Norway under the Foreign Military Assistance Program.

HNoMS Brage (N49)

On 27 January 1961, she was transferred to the Royal Norwegian Navy. Her name was struck from the U.S. Navy List on 1 March 1961. She served the Norwegians as Brage until 1978.

Awards

Triumph was awarded six

battle stars for World War II
service.

References

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.

External links