USS Barbican (ACM-5)

Career
Name: USS Barbican (ACM-5)
Builder: Marietta Manufacturing Company, Point Pleasant, West Virginia
Laid down: as USAMP Col. George Armistead for the U.S. Army
Acquired: 6 January 1945
Commissioned: 24 March 1945
Decommissioned: 12 June 1946
Reclassified: ACM-5, 19 January 1945
Struck: 19 July 1946
Fate: Transferred to the Coast Guard, 18 June 1946
General characteristics
Class and type: Chimo-class minelayer
Displacement: 1,320 long tons (1,341 t) full
Length: 188 ft 2 in (57.35 m)
Beam: 37 ft (11 m)
Draft: 12 ft 6 in (3.81 m)
Speed: 12.5 knots (23.2 km/h; 14.4 mph)
Complement: 69
Armament: 1 × 40 mm gun

USS Barbican (ACM-5) was a Chimo-class minelayer in the United States Navy.

Barbican was constructed by the Marietta Manufacturing Co. at Point Pleasant, West Virginia, delivered to the U.S. Army in December 1942[1] as the mine planter USAMP Col. George Armistead (MP-3); was acquired by the U.S. Navy from the Army Coast Artillery at Charleston, South Carolina, on 6 January 1945; renamed Barbican and designated an auxiliary minelayer, ACM-5, on 19 January 1945; converted for naval service by the Charleston Navy Yard; and placed in commission there on 24 March 1945, Lt. Comdr. Alexander Anderson, Jr., in command.

Contents

Service history

End-of-War Pacific Theatre operations

Following shakedown training out of Charleston, South Carolina, between 31 March and 24 April, Barbican arrived in the Pacific late in the summer of 1945 too late to participate in the war against Japan. In fact, Barbican did not depart Pearl Harbor and head for the western Pacific until 17 August, two days after the Japanese capitulation ended hostilities. On her way west, the auxiliary minelayer made one stop at Midway Island before arriving at Saipan in the Marianas on 20 September.

There, she reported for duty with the Commander, Minecraft, Pacific Fleet. For a little more than a month, she served as tender and flagship for a squadron of motor minesweepers (YMS), performing those duties both at Saipan and at Okinawa. Late in October, the ship moved from Okinawa to Sasebo, where she took part in the postwar occupation of Japan. That assignment lasted until 24 February 1946, when she headed back to the United States.

Decommissioning

She reported to the Commandant, 12th Naval District, late in April 1946 for duty pending inactivation. Barbican was placed out of commission at San Francisco, California, on 12 June 1946 and was transferred simultaneously to the U.S. Coast Guard. Her name was struck from the Navy list on 19 July 1946.

References

  1. ^ http://shipbuildinghistory.com/history/smallships/armyminecraft.htm | Shipbuilding History - U.S. Army Mine Craft

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

See also

External links