USS Bastion (ACM-6)

Career
Name: USS Bastion (ACM-6)
Builder: Marietta Manufacturing Company, Point Pleasant, West Virginia
Laid down: as USAMP Colonel Henry J. Hunt for the U.S. Army
Acquired: 4 January 1945
Commissioned: 9 April 1945
Decommissioned: 18 June 1946
Renamed: Bastion, 9 April 1945
Struck: 19 July 1946
Fate: Transferred to the Coast Guard, 18 June 1946; decommissioned on 15 September 1969
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)
Propulsion:Skinner Engine Company reciprocating steam engine; 2 boilers; 1,200 SHP; twin propellers.
Speed:12.5 knots (23.2 km/h; 14.4 mph)
Complement:69
Armament:1 × 40 mm gun
Mines

USS Bastion (ACM-6) was a Chimo-class minelayer in the United States Navy during World War II.

Bastion was originally the USAMP Colonel Henry J. Hunt — a mine planter built in 1942 at Point Pleasant, West Virginia, by the Marietta Manufacturing Co. — and was acquired by the Navy from the U.S. Army on 4 January 1945; renamed Bastion; converted to an auxiliary minelayer; and commissioned at Charleston, South Carolina, on 9 April 1945, Lt. Earl D. Fatkin, USNR, in command. The ship was transferred to the U.S. Coast Guard in 1946 to be commissioned as USCGC Jonquil serving until 1969.

Service history

World War II Pacific Theatre operations

Bastion departed Charleston, South Carolina, on 17 June 1945 bound for the Pacific. She transited the Panama Canal on 23 June and arrived in San Diego, on 7 July. In August, she sailed to Pearl Harbor and then continued on to the Mariana Islands where she arrived on 22 August. Though classified as a minelayer, the ship served as a minesweeper and repair ship in the Marianas during the remainder of August and all of September and in the Ryukyus from October to mid December. On 17 December, she got underway for Japan, arrived there on the 21st, and resumed minesweeping duties. She also provided seaborne support for the occupation forces.

Decommissioning

On 11 March 1946, Bastion headed home. She was decommissioned on 18 June 1946 at San Francisco, and was simultaneously transferred to the U.S. Coast Guard. Her name was struck from the Navy list on 19 July 1946.

U.S. Coast Guard

Commissioned by U.S. Coast Guard as USCGC Jonquil (WAGL / WLB-330) on 29 August 1946 and assigned to the Fifth Coast Guard District to be based out of Portsmouth, Virginia servicing navigation aids and engaging in search and rescue or law enforcement as required. Jonquil was decommissioned on 15 September 1969.[1]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.uscg.mil/history/webcutters/Jonquil_1946.pdf | U.S. Coast Guard – Jonquil, 1946 ex-Bastion; ex-Colonel Henry J. Hunt

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

See also

External links