USS Waxbill (MHC-50)
USS ''Waxbill'' (MHC-50/AMCU-50/AMS-39/YMS-479/PCS-1456) was a acquired by the U.S. Navy for the task of removing naval mine, mines placed in the water to prevent ships from passing. History The second U.S. Navy ship named for the Estrildid finch, waxbill bird, the ship was originally the wooden-hulled, unnamed motor minesweeper ''YMS-479''. Laid down as ''PCS-1456'' on 28 April 1943 at Tacoma, Washington, by the Mojean and Ericson Shipbuilding, Mojean and Ericson Shipbuilding Corp., the ship was reclassified as a motor minesweeper, ''YMS-479'', on 27 September 1943. Launched on 30 September 1943, ''YMS-479'' was commissioned at the Mojean and Ericson yard on 20 July 1944. After fitting out at the Todd Pacific Shipyard, Tacoma, Washington, the new minecraft departed the Seattle, Washington, area on 13 August. Making port at Long Beach, California, on 17 August, she conducted shakedown cruise, shakedown out of that port until 8 September, when she shifted to San Diego, Californ ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Long Beach, California
Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter city, Long Beach is the List of cities and towns in California, 7th-most populous city in California, the List of cities in Los Angeles County, California, 2nd-most populous city in Los Angeles County, and the largest city in California that is not a county seat. Incorporated in 1897, Long Beach lies in Southern California, in the southern part of Los Angeles County. Long Beach is approximately south of downtown Los Angeles, and is part of the Gateway Cities region. The Port of Long Beach is the second busiest container port in the United States and is among the world's largest shipping ports. The city is over Long Beach Oil Field, an oilfield with minor wells both directly beneath the city as well as offshore. The city is known for its wa ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Marshall Islands
The Marshall Islands, officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands, is an island country west of the International Date Line and north of the equator in the Micronesia region of the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. The territory consists of 29 coral atolls and five main islands as well as 1,220 other very small ones, divided across two Archipelago, island chains: Ratak in the east and Ralik in the west. 97.87% of its territory is water, the largest proportion of water to land of any sovereign state. The country shares Maritime boundary, maritime boundaries with Wake Island to the north, Kiribati to the southeast, Nauru to the south, and the Federated States of Micronesia to the west. The capital city, capital and largest city is Majuro, home to approximately half of the country's population. The Marshall Islands are one of only four atoll based nations in the entire world. Austronesian settlers reached the Marshall Islands as early as the 2nd millennium BC and introduced Southeas ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Minesweeper (ship)
A minesweeper is a small warship designed to remove or detonate naval mines. Using various mechanisms intended to counter the threat posed by naval mines, minesweepers keep waterways clear for safe shipping. History The earliest known usage of the naval mine dates to the Ming dynasty.Needham, Volume 5, Part 7, 203–205. Dedicated minesweepers, however, only appeared many centuries later during the Crimean War, when they were deployed by the British. The Crimean War minesweepers were rowboats trailing grapnels to snag mines. Minesweeping technology picked up in the Russo-Japanese War, using aging torpedo boats as minesweepers. In Britain, naval leaders recognized before the outbreak of World War I that the development of sea mines was a threat to the nation's shipping and began efforts to counter the threat. Sir Arthur Wilson noted the real threat of the time was a blockade aided by mines and not an invasion. The function of the fishing fleet's trawlers with their trawl ge ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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United States Pacific Fleet
The United States Pacific Fleet (USPACFLT) is a theater-level component command of the United States Navy, located in the Pacific Ocean. It provides naval forces to the Indo-Pacific Command. Fleet headquarters is at Joint Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam, Hawaii, with large secondary facilities at Naval Air Station North Island, California. Origins A Pacific Fleet was created in 1907 when the Asiatic Squadron and the Pacific Squadron were combined. In 1910, the ships of the First Squadron were organized back into a separate Asiatic Fleet. The General Order 94 of 6 December 1922 organized the United States Fleet, with the Battle Force as the Pacific presence. Until May 1940, the Battle Force was stationed on the West Coast of the United States. Headquarters, battleships, aircraft carriers and heavy cruisers were stationed at San Pedro close to the Long Beach Naval Shipyard. Light cruisers, destroyers and submarines were stationed at San Diego. During the summer of 1940, as ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Attack Transport
Attack transport is a United States Navy ship classification for a variant of ocean-going troopship adapted to transporting invasion forces ashore. Unlike standard troopships – often drafted from the Merchant navy, merchant fleet – that rely on either a quay or ship's tender, tenders, attack transports carry their own fleet of landing craft, such as the LCVP (United States), landing craft, vehicle, personnel (LCVP) or Higgins boat. They are not to be confused with landing ships, which beach themselves to bring their troops directly ashore, or their general British equivalent, the landing ship, infantry. A total of 388 APA (troop) and AKA (cargo) attack transports were built for service in World War II in at least fifteen classes. Depending on class they were armed with one or two 5-inch guns and a variety of 40 mm and 20 mm anti-aircraft weapons. By the late 1960s, 41 of these ships were redesignated with the hull symbol ''(LPA) landing platform, amphi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Oahu
Oahu (, , sometimes written Oahu) is the third-largest and most populated island of the Hawaiian Islands and of the U.S. state of Hawaii. The state capital, Honolulu, is on Oahu's southeast coast. The island of Oahu and the uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands constitute the City and County of Honolulu, Hawaii, City and County of Honolulu. In 2021, Oahu had a population of 995,638, up from 953,207 in 2010 (approximately 70% of the total 1,455,271 population of the Hawaiian Islands, with approximately 81% of those living in or near the Honolulu urban area). Oahu is long and across. Its shoreline is long. Including small associated islands such as Ford Island plus those in Kāneohe Bay and off the eastern (windward and leeward, windward) coast, its area is , making it the List of islands of the United States by area, 20th-largest island in the United States. Well-known features of Oahu include Waikīkī, Pearl Harbor, Diamond Head, Hawaii, Diamond Head, Hanauma Bay, Kān ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Maui
Maui (; Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: ) is the second largest island in the Hawaiian archipelago, at 727.2 square miles (1,883 km2). It is the List of islands of the United States by area, 17th-largest in the United States. Maui is one of Maui County, Hawaii, Maui County's five islands, along with Molokai, Molokai, Lanai, Lānai, Kahoʻolawe, Kahoolawe, and Molokini. In 2020, Maui had a population of 168,307, the third-highest of the Hawaiian Islands, behind Oahu, Oahu and Hawaii (island), Hawaii Island. Kahului, Hawaii, Kahului is the largest census-designated place (CDP) on the island, with a 2020 population of 28,219. It is Maui's commercial and financial hub. Wailuku, Hawaii, Wailuku is the county seat and was the third-largest CDP . Other significant populated areas include Kihei, Hawaii, Kīhei (including Wailea, Hawaii, Wailea and Makena, Hawaii, Makena in the Kihei Town CDP), Lahaina, Hawaii, Lāhainā (including Kaanapali, Kāanapali and Kapalua in the Lāhainā T ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Kauai
Kauai (), anglicized as Kauai ( or ), is one of the main Hawaiian Islands. It has an area of 562.3 square miles (1,456.4 km2), making it the fourth-largest of the islands and the 21st-largest island in the United States. Kauai lies 73 miles (117 km) northwest of Oahu, across the Kauai Channel. The island's 2020 population was 73,298. Styling itself the "Garden Isle", Kauai is the site of Waimea Canyon State Park and Nā Pali Coast State Park. It forms the bulk of Kauai County, which includes Niihau as well as the small nearby islands of Kaula and Lehua. Etymology and language Hawaiian narrative derives the name's origin from the legend of Hawaiiloa, the Polynesian navigator credited with discovering the Hawaiian Islands. The story relates that he named the island after a favorite son; a possible translation of Kauai is "place around the neck", describing how a father would carry his child. Another possible translation is "food season". Kauai was known for its ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Reciprocity Treaty of 1875. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands are now a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the United States Pacific Fleet. The U.S. government first obtained exclusive use of the inlet and the right to maintain a repair and coaling station for ships here in 1887. The Attack on Pearl Harbor, surprise attack on the harbor by the Imperial Japanese Navy on December 7, 1941, led the United States to United States declaration of war on Japan, declare war on the Empire of Japan, marking the American entry into World War II, United States' entry into World War II. History Pearl Harbor was originally an extensive shallow embayment called ''Wai Momi'' (meaning 'Waters of Pearl') or ''Puuloa' ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hawaiian Islands
The Hawaiian Islands () are an archipelago of eight major volcanic islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the Pacific Ocean, North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the Hawaii (island), island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kure Atoll. Formerly called the Sandwich Islands by Europeans, the present name for the archipelago is derived from the name of its largest island, Hawaii. The archipelago sits on the Pacific Plate. The islands are exposed peaks of a great undersea mountain range known as the Hawaiian–Emperor seamount chain, formed by volcano, volcanic activity over the Hawaiian hotspot. The islands are about from the nearest continent and are part of the Polynesia subregion of Oceania. The U.S. state of Hawaii occupies the archipelago almost in its entirety (including the mostly uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands), with the sole exception of Midway Atoll (a United States Minor Outlying Island). Hawaii is the only U.S. state that is sit ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tank Landing Ship
A Landing Ship, Tank (LST) is a ship first developed during World War II (1939–1945) to support amphibious operations by carrying tanks, vehicles, cargo, and landing troops directly onto a low-slope beach with no docks or piers. The shallow draft and bow doors and ramps enabled amphibious assaults on almost any beach. The LST had a highly specialized design that enabled ocean crossings as well as shore groundings. The bow had a large door that could open, deploy a ramp and unload vehicles. The LST had a flat keel that allowed the ship to be beached and stay upright. The twin propellers and rudders had protection from grounding. The LSTs served across the globe during World War II, including in the Pacific War and in the European theater. The first tank landing ships were built to British requirements by converting existing ships; the UK and the US then collaborated upon a joint design. The British ships were used in late 1942 during the Allied invasion of Algeria. In 19 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |