History | |
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United States | |
Name | USS Improve |
Builder | Savannah Machine and Foundry Company |
Laid down | 1 June 1943 |
Launched | 26 September 1943 |
Commissioned | 29 February 1944 |
Decommissioned | 6 November 1946 |
Fate |
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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 |
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Speed | 14.8 knots (27.4 km/h) |
Complement | 104 |
Armament |
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Service record | |
Part of: |
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Awards: | 2 Battle stars |
USS Improve (AM-247) was an Admirable-class minesweeper built for the U.S. Navy during World War II. She was built to clear minefields in offshore waters, and served the Navy in the North Atlantic Ocean and then in the Pacific Ocean. Improve received two battle stars for World War II service.
Improve was laid down 1 June 1943 by Savannah Machine & Foundry Co., Savannah, Georgia; launched 26 September 1943; sponsored by Mrs. J. E. Poythress and commissioned 29 February 1944.
After shakedown, Improve reported to Mine Warfare School, Yorktown, Virginia, for duty as school ship. She was next assigned to convoy duty, sailed for Africa on 23 July, and arrived Mers-el-Kebir 10 August 1944. The mine-craft arrived off southern France for duty 25 August.
During this period Improve swept coastal waters, occasionally exchanging fire with German shore batteries. The enemy still controlled the Italian coastline in this area, and menaced sweeping operations with one-man torpedoes and other devices. The ship helped sweep a channel into Mentone 9–10 September and assisted sinking a one-man torpedo on the 10th. From October until March 1945 Improve swept mines and performed patrol duties at Bizerte; Cagliari, Sardinia; and Palermo, Sicily. Her group developed the new technique of using a Navy blimp to spot floating mines.
Following a brief operation off Anzio 3 March, Improve resumed operations off Sardinia and Sicily, before departing Oran 17 April for the United States.
USS Improve arrived Norfolk, Virginia, 5 May 1945 and, with the focus of war now shifted to the Pacific, sailed 5 July for duty in that theater. She proceeded via the Panama Canal to San Pedro, Los Angeles, arriving 26 July, and remained there on training duty until after the end of the Pacific War. The need for minesweeping operations was still great, however, and Improve sailed 17 September for Pearl Harbor, Eniwetok, Saipan, and Okinawa. She arrived off Sasebo 17 November for additional minesweeping duty and finished the year working off Formosa and in the Pescadores.
In March 1946 the ship was at Shanghai, earmarked for transfer to China, but she was subsequently returned to Seattle, Washington, and decommissioned 6 November 1946. Improve was eventually turned over to the Maritime Commission and sold 24 February 1949 to Ricardo Granja and renamed MV Ecuador. She was sunk in 1953.
Improve received two battle stars for World War II service
USS Phantom (AM-273) was an Admirable-class minesweeper built for the U.S. Navy during World War II. She was built to clear minefields in offshore waters, and served the Navy in the Atlantic Ocean and then was transferred to the North Pacific Ocean where she was transferred to the Chinese Navy as part of the lend lease program. Her American crew members returned home with the satisfaction that they had won three battle stars during the war.
USS Pledge (AM-277) was an Admirable-class minesweeper built for the U.S. Navy during World War II. She was built to clear minefields in offshore waters, and served the Navy in the Atlantic Ocean and then was transferred to the North Pacific Ocean. She survived the world war and was awarded one battle star, but, during the Korean War, she struck a mine and was sunk. She received the Presidential Unit Citation for her Korean service.
USS Serene (AM-300) was an Admirable-class minesweeper built for the United States Navy during World War II. She served in the Pacific Ocean and was awarded six battle stars. She was decommissioned and placed in reserve in 1946. In January 1964, the former Serene was transferred to South Vietnam as RVNS Nhật Tảo (HQ-10) in the Republic of Vietnam Navy. She was sunk in January 1974 during combat with Chinese forces in the Battle of the Paracel Islands.
USS Redstart (AM-378/MSF-378) was an Auk-class minesweeper commissioned by the United States Navy for service in World War II. Her task, as a fleet minesweeper, was to clear mines as the fleet proceeded into battle areas.
USS Dextrous (AM-341) was an Auk-class minesweeper built for the United States Navy which served in World War II, the Korean War, and beyond. She was later transferred to the Republic of Korea Navy where she served as ROKS Koje (PCE-1003).
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.
USS Speed (AM-116) 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.
USS Steady (AM-118) 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.
USS Threat (AM-124) 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.
USS Pinnacle (AM-274) was an Admirable class minesweeper of the US Navy during World War II. She was laid down by the Gulf Shipbuilding Corp., Chickasaw, Alabama, 1 February 1943 launched 11 September 1943 sponsored by Mrs. Francis W. Osborn; and commissioned 24 May 1944.
USS Specter (AM-306) was an Admirable-class minesweeper built for the United States Navy during World War II. She was originally ordered, laid down, and launched as USS Spector (AM-306), but was renamed the correctly spelled Specter in March 1944. She was awarded four battle stars for service in the Pacific during World War II. She was decommissioned in 1946 and placed in reserve. While she remained in reserve, Specter was reclassified as MSF-306 in February 1955 but never reactivated. In April 1973, she was sold to the Mexican Navy and renamed ARM DM-04. In 1994 she was renamed ARM General Manuel E. Rincón (C52). She was stricken in July 2001, but her ultimate fate is not reported in secondary sources.
USS Spectacle (AM-305) was a steel-hulled Admirable class minesweeper built for the U.S. Navy during World War II. A trained crew boarded the new vessel, practiced with her minesweeping gear, and then proceeded to the Pacific Ocean to clear mines from Japanese beaches so that Allied forces could invade. While performing this dangerous task of mine clearance, a Japanese plane strafed her, and another deliberately crashed into her. When she returned to the United States, her battle damage was so severe that the U.S. Navy decided to scrap, rather than to repair, her. She was awarded two battle stars.
USS Compel (AM-162) was an Admirable-class minesweeper built for the U.S. Navy during World War II. She was built to clear minefields in offshore waters, and served the Navy in the Pacific Ocean. Compel was awarded one battle star for World War II service.
USS Implicit (AM-246) was an Admirable-class minesweeper built for the U.S. Navy during World War II. She was built to clear minefields in offshore waters, and served the Navy in the North Atlantic Ocean and then in the Pacific Ocean. She finished the war with two battle stars to her credit.
USS Incessant (AM-248) was an Admirable-class minesweeper built for the U.S. Navy during World War II. She was built to clear minefields in offshore waters, and served the Navy in the North Atlantic Ocean and then in the Pacific Ocean. She returned home at war's end with two battle stars to her credit.
USS Incredible (AM-249) was an Admirable-class minesweeper built for the U.S. Navy during World War II. She was built to clear minefields in offshore waters, and served the Navy in the North Atlantic Ocean and then in the Pacific Ocean. She returned home, finishing the war with two battle stars to her credit. When she was recalled for duty in the Korean War, she returned home again with four more battle stars.
USS Inflict (AM-251) was an Admirable-class minesweeper built for the U.S. Navy during World War II to clear offshore minefields and served the Navy in both the North Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. At war's end, she returned home with three battle stars to her credit.
USS Mainstay (AM-261) was an Admirable-class minesweeper built for the U.S. Navy during World War II. She was built to clear minefields in offshore waters, and served the Navy in the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean.
USS Refresh (AM-287) was an Admirable-class minesweeper built for the U.S. Navy during World War II. She was built to clear minefields in offshore waters, and served the Navy in the Pacific Ocean. Post-war, her crew returned home with two battle stars to their credit. The ship itself was given to the Nationalist Chinese Navy.
USS Inflict (AM-456/MSO-456) was an Aggressive-class minesweeper acquired by the U.S. Navy for the task of removing mines that had been placed in the water to prevent the safe passage of ships.
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships .The entry can be found here.