USS ''Captivate'' (AM-156) was an built for the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and in commission from 1943 to 1945. In 1945, she was transferred to the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and then served in the

Soviet Navy The Soviet Navy was the naval warfare Military, uniform service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces. Often referred to as the Red Fleet, the Soviet Navy made up a large part of the Soviet Union's strategic planning in the event of a conflict with t ...

as ''T-338''.

Construction and commissioning

Originally classified as a "coastal minesweeper," AMc-133, ''Captivate'' was reclassified as a "minesweeper," AM-156, on 21 February 1942. She was launched on 1 December 1942 at

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...

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, by

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and commissioned on 30 December 1943.

Service history

U.S. Navy, World War II, 1943-1945

Reporting to the

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� ...

for assignment, ''Captivate'' stood out of

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, on 11 March 1944 bound for

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, and

Majuro Majuro (; Marshallese language, Marshallese: ' ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Marshall Islands. It is also a large coral atoll of 64 islands in the Pacific Ocean. It forms a legislative district of the Ratak Chain, Ratak ( ...

in the

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. Arriving at Majuro on 10 April 1944, she operated as harbor entrance patrol and pilot vessel, occasionally escorting

convoy A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support and can help maintain cohesion within a unit. It may also be used ...

s to the other islands of the Marshalls group. Leaving Majuro on 22 September 1944, she moved to the

Mariana Islands The Mariana Islands ( ; ), also simply the Marianas, are a crescent-shaped archipelago comprising the summits of fifteen longitudinally oriented, mostly dormant volcanic mountains in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, between the 12th and 21st pa ...

, where she escorted convoys and patrolled off

Tinian Tinian () is one of the three principal islands of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). Together with uninhabited neighboring Aguiguan, it forms Tinian Municipality, one of the four constituent municipalities of the Northern ...

until 14 October 1944. Arriving in the newly captured

Palau Islands Palau, officially the Republic of Palau, is an island country in the Micronesia subregion of Oceania in the western Pacific Ocean. The Republic of Palau consists of approximately 340 islands and is the western part of the Caroline Islands, w ...

on 23 October 1944, ''Captivate'' performed patrol and escort duties there until 3 February 1945, when she moved to

Eniwetok Enewetak Atoll (; also spelled Eniwetok Atoll or sometimes Eniewetok; , , or , ; known to the Japanese as Brown Atoll or Brown Island; ) is a large coral atoll of 40 islands in the Pacific Ocean and with its 296 people (as of 2021) forms a legi ...

to perform similar duties through the remainder of February 1945. Arriving at Portland, Oregon, on 27 March 1945, ''Captivate'' moved to

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

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, where she aided in training programs until 6 July 1945. Selected for transfer to the

Project Hula Project Hula was a secret program during World War II in which the United States transferred naval vessels to the Soviet Union in anticipation of the Soviets eventually joining the war against Japan, specifically in preparation for planned So ...

– a secret program for the transfer of U.S. Navy ships to the Soviet Navy at

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, in anticipation of the

joining the war against Japan – ''Captivate'' proceeded to Cold Bay to begin familiarization training of her new Soviet crew.Russell, Richard A., ''Project Hula: Secret Soviet-American Cooperation in the War Against Japan'', Washington, D.C.:

Naval Historical Center The Naval History and Heritage Command, formerly the Naval Historical Center, is an Echelon II command responsible for the preservation, analysis, and dissemination of U.S. naval history and heritage located at the historic Washington Navy Yard ...

, 1997, , p. 39.

Soviet Navy, 1945-1960

Following the completion of training for her Soviet crew, ''Captivate'' was decommissioned on 17 August 1945 at Cold Bay and transferred to the Soviet Union under

Lend-Lease Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (),3,000 Hurricanes and >4,000 other aircraft) * 28 naval vessels: ** 1 Battleship. (HMS Royal Sovereign (05), HMS Royal Sovereign) * ...

immediately. Also commissioned into the Soviet Navy immediately, she was designated as a ' ("minesweeper") and renamed ''T-338'' in Soviet service. She soon departed Cold Bay bound for

Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky (, ) is a city and the administrative center of Kamchatka Krai, Russia. It is located in the Far East of the country and lies along the coast of Avacha Bay by the Pacific Ocean, nearby Khalaktyrskoye Lake. As of the 202 ...

in the Soviet Union, where she served in the

Soviet Far East The Russian Far East ( rus, Дальний Восток России, p=ˈdalʲnʲɪj vɐˈstok rɐˈsʲiɪ) is a region in North Asia. It is the easternmost part of Russia and the Asian continent, and is coextensive with the Far Eastern Fe ...

. In February 1946, the United States began negotiations for the return of ships loaned to the Soviet Union for use during World War II, and on 8 May 1947,

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James V. Forrestal informed the

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that the

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wanted 480 of the 585 combatant ships it had transferred to the Soviet Union for World War II use returned. Deteriorating relations between the two countries as the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

broke out led to protracted negotiations over the ships, and by the mid-1950s the U.S. Navy found it too expensive to bring home ships that had become worthless to it anyway. Many ex-American ships were merely administratively "returned" to the United States and instead sold for scrap in the Soviet Union, while the U.S. Navy did not seriously pursue the return of others because it viewed them as no longer worth the cost of recovery.Russell, Richard A., ''Project Hula: Secret Soviet-American Cooperation in the War Against Japan'', Washington, D.C.:

, 1997, , pp. 37-38, 39. The Soviet Union never returned ''Captivate'' to the United States, although the U.S. Navy reclassified her as a "fleet minesweeper" (MSF) and redesignated her MSF-156 on 7 February 1955.

Disposal

''T-338'' was scrapped in 1960. Unaware of her fate, the U.S. Navy kept ''Captivate'' on its

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 ...

until finally striking her on 1 January 1983.

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Captivate (AM-156) Admirable-class minesweepers Ships built in Portland, Oregon 1942 ships World War II minesweepers of the United States Admirable-class minesweepers of the Soviet Navy World War II minesweepers of the Soviet Union Cold War minesweepers of the Soviet Union Ships transferred under Project Hula