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American Gunboats and Minesweepers by HYT Lenton Soft Cover 1974 64 Pages
American Gunboats and Minesweepers by HYT Lenton
Soft Cover
Copyright 1974
64 Pages
The escort and minesweeping forces of the United States Navy were considerably below strength in 1939 and composed of a motley collection of gunboats (see Note 1) and a small number of elderly minesweepers. There was also a substantial reserve-of old destroyers, and the large and medium cutters of the United States Coast Guard, which could also be utilised for the protection of Trade. The origins of this situation lay in the American policy of isolation which gained strength in the period "between the wars" and held that the U.S.A. should hold aloof from foreign-particularly European -entanglements. In pursuance of this policy the United States Navy's paramount duty was the defence of American territories, and despite long lines of communications in the Pacific the requirements for Trade protection for a country rich in natural resources had low priority.
The naval strategy of the U.S.A. centred around operating and supporting its main fleet in the Pacific, with Japan as the potential enemy in mind, and the build-up of the combatant strength of the Pacific Fleet had overriding priority. In this atmosphere there was an understandable tendency for the supply of such vessels as escorts and minesweepers to be deferred in favour of fleet vessels.
It is, perhaps, no over-simplification to say that the Pacific Fleet's principal task was the defence of the Philippine Islands, ..filch were ideally located as a forward base for operations against Japan; and without doubt the fleet stood as the principal bulwark against Japanese aggression in East and South-East Asia.
Although two prototype minesweepers (AM.55 and 56) were authorised in 1938, no other provision than twelve more minesweepers (AM.57-68) had been put in hand by 1940. Under the terms of Lend/Lease the United States Navy was able to spare fifty old destroyers for transfer to the hard-pressed Royal Navy, but could only meet requests for escorts and minesweepers by new construction. The former had first to be designed to meet broad British requirements but also to suit American practice as to construction and equipment in order to expedite delivery, and the result was the sturdy destroyer escort (DE); while the new American standard minesweeper ("Auk" class) served British requirements equally as well.
When finally drawn into the Second World War the circumstances could hardly have been less favourable to the U.S.A. First, the Pacific Fleet was put out of action by the treacherous Japanese naval air strike on Pearl Harbour; second, with the Pacific Fleet immobilised the Japanese swept through and occupied South-East Asia (including the Philippines); and third, the U.S.A. was now committed to supply vast quantities of war supplies to her Allies over practically undefended trade routes. It is a matter of history that unsurpassed American war production eventually met all demands, but in the interim a high rate of loss was sustained by the Allied merchant fleets.
So acute was the initial shortage of escorts and minesweepers that even prior to the American entry into war the United States Navy was compelled to requisition fishing vessels and yachts to serve as armed auxiliaries in these roles; and early in 1942 even the Royal Navy-whose resources were stretched to the limit-had to lend the United States Navy ten corvettes and twenty-two A/S trawlers. The DE design (see Note 2) drawn-up for the Royal Navy was wholly acceptable to the United States Navy. Put into large-scale production, this design provided for the bulk of American escort forces. Therefore, excluding the destroyer escort, only a relatively modest provision (100 frigates) was made for further escorts under the war programmes. Minesweeper construction, on the other hand, was on a large scale. To speed production and meet numerical requirements unit size was reduced to the minimum level, while to counter sophisticated influence mines a wood-hulled sweeper-the ubiquitous YMS-was later introduced and proved an outstanding success.
Listed in these volumes are all the regular and auxiliary escort and fleet minesweepers of the United States Navy during the Second World War. It was decided to include the auxiliaries as they were numbered consecutively with the regular units in their various categories, and in order to conserve space only brief particulars are provided for those vessels of British design (some corvettes, frigates, and minesweepers) which have already been listed in full detail in companion volumes (see Note 3). In addition, it was appreciated that considerable interest centred around auxiliary warships in general, and all too often they are only reported on briefly, or omitted altogether. Within the time span allotted to this book every effort has been made to secure fate details, but in many instances it has not been possible to determine whether a vessel was scrapped or passed into mercantile ownership after it had been sold-out of naval service.
Particular acknowledgements are due to the information and photographic services of the United States Navy whose ready assistance was much appreciated; and to many colleagues in the U.K. and the U.S.A. who were no less helpful.
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