USS ''Pelican'' (MSC(O)-32/AMS-32/YMS-441) was a acquired by the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

for the task of removing mines that had been placed in the water to prevent ships from passing.

History

''Pelican'' was laid down as ''YMS-441'' on 27 November 1943 by Robert Jacob Inc. of

City Island, New York City Island is a List of Bronx neighborhoods, neighborhood in the northeastern the Bronx, Bronx in New York City, located on an island of the same name approximately long by wide. City Island is located at the extreme western end of Long Islan ...

; launched 13 November 1944; and commissioned 21 February 1945. After shakedown on the

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, ''YMS-441'' sailed for the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

10 April, finally arriving at

Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...

in August. While there, she participated in

minesweeping Minesweeping is the practice of the removal of explosive naval mines, usually by a specially designed ship called a minesweeper using various measures to either capture or detonate the mines, but sometimes also with an aircraft made for that ...

exercises and in several minesweeping operations with the

U.S. 3rd Fleet The United States Third Fleet is one of the numbered fleets in the United States Navy. Third Fleet's area of responsibility includes approximately fifty million square miles of the eastern and northern Pacific Ocean areas including the Bering ...

. Returning to the United States in February 1946, ''YMS-441'' operated along the

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

coast until November, when she sailed to

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic ce ...

. Arriving in Guam in January 1947, ''YMS-441'' swept for mines in the

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and

Marshall islands The Marshall Islands ( mh, Ṃajeḷ), officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands ( mh, Aolepān Aorōkin Ṃajeḷ),'' () is an independent island country and microstate near the Equator in the Pacific Ocean, slightly west of the Internati ...

. While at

, ''YMS-441'' was named USS ''Pelican'' and classified AMS-32 on 18 February. Sailing for

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 ...

in late September, ''Pelican'' arrived in October and immediately entered the yards to be outfitted as an experimental ship for the

Eniwetok Enewetak Atoll (; also spelled Eniwetok Atoll or sometimes Eniewetok; mh, Ānewetak, , or , ; known to the Japanese as Brown Atoll or Brown Island; ja, ブラウン環礁) is a large coral atoll of 40 islands in the Pacific Ocean and with ...

atomic bomb A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions ( thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bomb ...

tests. All her minesweeping gear was removed and special electronic gear was installed. Based in the Eniwetok Atoll area, she supported the test in the first half of 1948. After returning to Pearl Harbor in June 1948, the electronic gear was removed and her minesweeping gear was replaced. ''Pelican'' remained in the

Hawaiian Islands The Hawaiian Islands ( haw, Nā Mokupuni o Hawai‘i) are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost ...

area for the next two years of her service. At the start of the

Korean War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Korean War , partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict , image = Korean War Montage 2.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Clockwise from top: ...

, USS ''Pelican'' deployed to

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republi ...

. In October 1950, ''Pelican'' was part of a group consisting of , , , , , , , , four

Republic of Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its ea ...

minesweepers, and a helicopter from that cleared the heavily mined port of

Chinnampo Nampo (North Korean official spelling: Nampho; ), also spelled Namp'o, is the second largest city by population and an important seaport in North Korea, which lies on the northern shore of the Taedong River, 15 km east of the river's mouth. ...

in less than two weeks. She remained in the

Far East The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons. The te ...

until 1955. On 7 February, she was reclassified MSC(O)-32 and on 16 April of that year, she was loaned to Japan, becoming ''Ogishima'' (''MSC-659''). Returned to the

in April 1968, she was struck from the

Naval Vessel Register The ''Naval Vessel Register'' (NVR) is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from t ...

on 1 May 1968.

References

External links

*
U.S. NAVY SHIPS IN THE KOREAN WAR

USS Pelican - MSCO 32

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pelican (AMS-32) YMS-1-class minesweepers of the United States Navy Ships built in City Island, Bronx 1944 ships World War II minesweepers of the United States Korean War minesweepers of the United States YMS-1-class minesweepers of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force