USS Gayety (AM-239)
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 USS Gayety in 1945 |
|
| Career |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | USS Gayety |
| Builder: | Winslow Marine Railway & Shipbuilding Company |
| Laid down: | 14 November 1943 |
| Launched: | 19 March 1944 |
| Commissioned: | 23 September 1945 |
| Decommissioned: | 1 March 1954 |
| Reclassified: | MSF-239, 7 February 1955 |
| Fate: | Transferred to South Vietnam on 17 April 1962 |
| Career (South Vietnam) |  |
| Name: | RVN Chi Lang II (HQ-08) |
| Operator: | Republic of Vietnam Navy |
| Acquired: | 17 April 1962 |
| Fate: | Escaped to the Philippines in April 1975 after the fall of South Vietnam |
| Career (Philippines) |  |
| Name: | BRP Magat Salamat (PS-20) |
| Operator: | Philippine Navy |
| Commissioned: | 1975 |
| Reclassified: | Patrol Corvette |
| Fate: | Active in service as of 2008 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Admirable-class minesweeper |
| Displacement: | 650 tons |
| Length: | 184 ft 6 in (56.2 m) |
| Beam: | 33 ft (10 m) |
| Draft: | 9 ft 9 in (3.0 m) |
| Propulsion: | 2 × Cooper Bessemer GSB-8 diesel engines, 1,710 shp 2 shafts |
| Speed: | 14.8 knots (27.4 km/h) |
| Complement: | 104 |
| Armament: | 1 × 3"/50 caliber gun DP 2 × twin Bofors 40 mm guns 1 × Hedgehog anti-submarine mortar 2 × Depth charge tracks |
| Service record | |
| Part of | US Pacific Fleet (1944-1946) Atlantic Reserve Fleet (1946-1951), {1954-1962) Republic of Vietnam Navy (1962-1975) Philippine Navy (1975-) |
| Operations | Battle of Okinawa Vietnam War |
USS Gayety (AM-239) 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.
Gayety was laid down 14 November 1943 by the Winslow Marine Railway & Shipbuilding Co. of Winslow, Washington; launched 19 March 1944 sponsored by Miss Janice Morgan and commissioned 23 September 1945, Lt. Comdr. John R. Row in command.
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[edit] World War II Pacific Ocean operations
After shakedown out of San Pedro, California, and San Diego, California, Gayety arrived Pearl Harbor 4 January 1945 Following training and escort duty she sailed west for the invasion of Okinawa via Eniwetok, Saipan, and Ulithi. She sortied from Saipan 25 March with a convoy bound for Okinawa and arrived off Okinawa 1 April in time for the first amphibious assault on that strategic island, the doorway to Japan. In the ensuing weeks, Gayety swept minefields and made ASW patrols in the Ryukyus.
[edit] Attacked by a Japanese torpedo bomber
On 14 April she was as attacked by a Japanese torpedo bomber coming in low and fast to starboard. The plane launched a torpedo which Gayety left astern, but she was shaken from bow to stern when it exploded 150 yards (140 m) away.
[edit] Under constant attack
On 4 May, following a kamikaze attack on nearby USS Hopkins (DD-249), another aircraft made a suicide run on Gayety, coming in from starboard. Her automatic weapons riddled the aircraft that passed close over her fantail before crashing into the sea 30 yards (27 m) off the port quarter. Later in the same day the ship was attacked by a Japanese "Baka" bomb, a 4,700-pound bomb propelled by a rocket and guided by a human pilot at speeds up to 600 miles per hour. One of these deadly weapons thundered in at an estimated 400 knots (740 km/h) made a low altitude run on several of the smaller minesweepers Gayety was shepherding, and then turned toward Gayety for a suicide crash. The ship's gunners sent up an umbrella of automatic fire which blew off the Baka's cowling ring; seconds later it disintegrated rapidly, tumbling end-over-end through the air, and crashed into the sea 15 yards (14 m) off Gayety's port bow. Shrapnel rained on her decks, knocking out the port 40 mm gun and wounding three men but the ship continued her duties undaunted.
[edit] Struck by a near miss off Okinawa
On 27 May while continuing to support the Okinawa campaign, she suffered a near-miss from a 500-pound bomb which exploded just astern. Five men were killed and two wounded by flying debris, and the fantail burst into flames. Quick damage control however followed by repairs at Kerama Retto, soon put her back in fighting shape; and she resumed minesweeping off Okinawa and, subsequently, shifted operations to the approaches of the Japanese home islands.
[edit] End-of-war activity
After Japan surrendered and occupation forces had taken control of the conquered empire, Gayety stood out from Japan 20 November for the United States via Eniwetok and Pearl Harbor reaching San Diego, California, 19 December 1945 and thence sailing via the Panama Canal to Orange, Texas, where she decommissioned June 1946 and entered the Atlantic Reserve Fleet.
[edit] Converted to training ship
Gayety recommissioned 11 May 1951, Lt. Percy W. Rairden Jr., in command and moored at Charleston, South Carolina, 29 May. Until 1954 she was based at either Charleston or Norfolk, Virginia, as a training ship, with a visit to Vieques Island, Puerto Rico, in the fall of 1951 for exercises.
[edit] Final decommissioning
She returned to Orange, Texas, 3 January 1954 and decommissioned 1 March 1954, re-entering the Atlantic Reserve Fleet. Gayety was as reclassified MSF-239, 7 February 1955 and was transferred to the Republic of a Vietnam 17 April 1962. She served the Vietnamese Navy as Chi Lang II (HQ-8). She escaped to the Philippines in 1975 after the fall of South Vietnam and was renamed BRP Magat Salamat (PS-20). She is still in active service, and is assigned with the Patrol Force, Philippine Navy as of 2007.
[edit] References
This article includes text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
[edit] See also
- List of United States Navy ships
- World War II
- Patrol boat
- Minelayer
- Minesweeper (ship)
- BRP Magat Salamat (PS-20)
