History
Following a shakedown cruise off Cuba, ''Mervine'' reported for duty with the Gulf Sea Frontier at New Orleans, Louisiana, New Orleans, 30 August 1942. Assigned to escort work, she accompanied merchantmen as they plied the Gulf of Mexico, Gulf and West Indies, West Indian shipping lanes, which during the preceding months had gained the dubious distinction of suffering the heaviest losses to U-boat activity in the eastern Atlantic. In October ''Mervine'' left the gulf and steamed to Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Norfolk where she Joined Task Force 34 (TF 34) and sailed east. Toward midnight on 7 November she arrived off Safi, Morocco, Safi, Morocco, and took up her station for Operation TORCH the invasion of North Africa. During the landings on 8 November, she acted as control vessel and provided fire support for the assault forces on Red Beach, north of Safi. She remained on patrol in the area for the next five days and then returned to New York (state), New York. There she resumed escort assignments and for the next seven months guarded coastal and transatlantic convoys. On 8 June 1943 ''Mervine'' departed with TF 65 for North Africa. Arriving at Mers-el-Kebir on 22 June, she joined TF 85 and on 5 July departed for Sicily and Operation HUSKY. From 10 July through 13 July, she cruised off Scoglitti and along the coast of the Camerina Plain, providing fire support for the Seventh United States Army, 7th Army's assault troops. She then returned to escort work in the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean. In late October 1943 the troopships of convoy KMF25 left Liverpool bound for Alexandria. ''Mervine'' was the escort flagship when the convoy was Action off Cape Bougaroun, attacked by German bombers off the coast of Algeria on 6 November 1943; and rescued over 600 survivors, including 100 nurses, from two ships sunk by the attack. Without facilities for so many passengers, ''Mervine'' transported the survivors to Malta within 24 hours.Pacific Theater
In the spring of 1945, as Allies of World War II, Allied forces in the Pacific pushed closer to the Japanese home islands and their need for Minesweeper (ship), minesweepers increased—doubly so with the disastrous toll among that type ship in the Ryukyus—''Mervine'' was designated for conversion. On 23 May she entered the Philadelphia Navy Yard where she became a destroyer minesweeper. Reclassified as DMS-31 on 30 May 1945, she departed for Norfolk on 15 July, and continued on to the Pacific. En route at the time of the Japanese surrender she arrived at Buckner Bay, Okinawa, on 28 September. In October, she swept naval mine, mines off the China coast near Kokuzan. Shifting to Japanese waters the following month, she operated first off Kyūshū and then off Honshū.Post war
''Mervine'' reported to San Francisco, California, San Francisco on 31 March 1946 for two years of west coast operations before returning to the Far East. On 25 March 1948 she arrived at U.S. Fleet Activities Yokosuka, Yokosuka and continued on to Qingdao, Tsingtao, China, where she carried out escort, rescue, and training assignments until 5 October when she departed for the United States. Arriving at her homeport Naval Station San Diego, San Diego, in November, she soon departed again for training and availability at Pearl Harbor. On 15 February 1949 she returned to southern California for the last time. On 27 May she decommissioned and entered the Pacific Reserve Fleet at San Diego. Redesignated DD-489 again on 15 July 1955, she remained at San Diego until the end of the decade and then was transferred first to the Columbia River Reserve Group and finally to Bremerton, Washington, Bremerton. Struck on 31 July 1968 from the Naval Vessel Register, Navy list, she was sold for scrap in 1969.Awards
''Mervine'' received three battle stars for her World War II service.References
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