USS ''Monadnock'' (ACM-10) was a coastal

minelayer A minelayer is any warship, submarine, military aircraft or land vehicle deploying explosive mines. Since World War I the term "minelayer" refers specifically to a naval ship used for deploying naval mines. "Mine planting" was the term for ins ...

in the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest displacement, at 4.5 million tons in 2021. It has the world's largest aircraft ...

, the third vessel named after

Mount Monadnock Mount Monadnock, or Grand Monadnock, is a mountain in the town of Jaffrey, New Hampshire. It is the most prominent mountain peak in southern New Hampshire and is the highest point in Cheshire County, New Hampshire, Cheshire County. It lies sou ...

, a solitary mountain (

monadnock An inselberg or monadnock ( ) is an isolated rock hill, knob, ridge, or small mountain that rises abruptly from a gently sloping or virtually level surrounding plain. In Southern Africa, a similar formation of granite is known as a koppie, an ...

) of more than 3,100 feet in southern

New Hampshire New Hampshire ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

close to the border of

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

. The ship was built as the cargo vessel ''Cavalier'' for the Philadelphia and Norfolk Steamship Company by

Pusey and Jones Corporation The Pusey and Jones Corporation was a major shipbuilder and industrial-equipment manufacturer. Based in Wilmington, Delaware, it operated from 1848 to 1959. Shipbuilding was its primary focus from 1853 until the end of World War II, when the comp ...

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington is the List of municipalities in Delaware, most populous city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish colonization of the Americas, Swedish settlement in North America. It lie ...

in 1938. The Navy purchased the ship 9 June 1941 for wartime use. After decommissioning the ship was sold in June 1947 for commercial use then sold to a Panamanian company in 1949 to be renamed ''Karukara''. In 1952 the ship became ''Monte de la Esperanza'' for a company in

Bilbao, Spain Bilbao is a city in northern Spain, the largest city in the province of Biscay and in the Basque Country as a whole. It is also the largest city proper in northern Spain. Bilbao is the tenth largest city in Spain, with a population of more th ...

transporting bananas to the United Kingdom from the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...

for more than 20 years. She was later sold to the Marine Institute of Spain for operation as a hospital ship for more than 10 years serving the fishing fleet of the Canary Islands as ''Esperanza del Mar'' until becoming an artificial reef off Spain in 2000.

Construction

''Cavalier'', yard hull 437, contract 1069, was launched 14 April 1938 by

Pusey and Jones The Pusey and Jones Corporation was a major shipbuilder and industrial-equipment manufacturer. Based in Wilmington, Delaware, it operated from 1848 to 1959. Shipbuilding was its primary focus from 1853 until the end of World War II, when the comp ...

Corp.,

and delivered to the Philadelphia and Norfolk Steamship Company,

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, Pennsylvania on 5 August 1938. ''Cavalier'' was the second of two identical ships built at the yard for the Philadelphia and Norfolk Steamship Company, the first being ''Quaker''. The design for the two ships was by Theodore E. Ferris and were unusual in that the design called for a speed of .Ferris was responsible for the World War I "Ferris design" ships of the

Emergency Fleet Corporation The Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC) was established by the United States Shipping Board, sometimes referred to as the War Shipping Board, on 16 April 1917 pursuant to the Shipping Act (39 Stat. 729) to acquire, maintain, and operate merchant shi ...

. ''Cavalier'' was registered with U.S. Official Number 237524, signal WNOQ as , 1,893 Net tons, registry lentth, beam and depth and a home port of Wilmington, Delaware. As built cargo capacity was . The ship was propelled by a G.E. 4,000 horsepower cross compound turbine fed by two

Babcock & Wilcox Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises, Inc. is an American energy technology and service provider that is active and has operations in many international markets with its headquarters in Akron, Ohio. Historically, the company is best known for their stea ...

boilers driving a single shaft.

Service history

''Cavalier'' was purchased by the

on 9 June 1941 from the Philadelphia and Norfolk Steamship Company for $1,250,000. The ship was converted at the Bethlehem Steel Co., Atlantic Works,

East Boston, Massachusetts East Boston, nicknamed Eastie, is a Neighborhoods in Boston, neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States, which was annexed by the city of Boston in 1836. Neighboring communities include Winthrop, Massachusetts, Winthrop, Revere, Mas ...

; and commissioned as the Coastal Minelayer ''Monadnock'' (CMc-4), 2 December 1941.

Invasion of Europe operations

Following shakedown in the

Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula, including parts of the Ea ...

area, ''Monadnock'' operated in the

5th Naval District United States Naval Districts is a system created by the United States Navy to organize military facilities, numbered sequentially by geographic region, for the operational and administrative control of naval bases and shore commands in the Unit ...

until 25 March, when she sailed for the

British West Indies The British West Indies (BWI) were the territories in the West Indies under British Empire, British rule, including Anguilla, the Cayman Islands, the Turks and Caicos Islands, Montserrat, the British Virgin Islands, Bermuda, Antigua and Barb ...

. While in the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

, 1 May 1942, she was redesignated Minelayer CM-9. Returning to

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

, 20 May, she resumed operations in the

. In late October she joined a convoy bound for North Africa. Arriving off

Casablanca Casablanca (, ) is the largest city in Morocco and the country's economic and business centre. Located on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Chaouia (Morocco), Chaouia plain in the central-western part of Morocco, the city has a populatio ...

on 8 November, she remained in the assault area through the 11th, when she got underway for her return voyage across the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...

, arriving at

Yorktown, Virginia Yorktown is a town in York County, Virginia, United States. It is the county seat of York County, one of the eight original shires formed in Colony of Virginia, colonial Virginia in 1682. Yorktown's population was 195 as of the 2010 census, while ...

, on the 30th.

Reassigned to Pacific Fleet operations

In the spring of 1943, ''Monadnock'' operated off the southern

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

coast, first for the

Minecraft ''Minecraft'' is a 2011 sandbox game developed and published by the Swedish video game developer Mojang Studios. Originally created by Markus Persson, Markus "Notch" Persson using the Java (programming language), Java programming language, the ...

Training Command and then under ComServFor, Atlantic Fleet, before resuming maneuvers in

. Reassigned to the Pacific Fleet in late fall, the

departed

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. It had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Virginia, third-most populous city ...

, with TG 29.18, transited the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal () is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean. It cuts across the narrowest point of the Isthmus of Panama, and is a Channel (geography), conduit for maritime trade between th ...

and arrived at San Diego 28 December. Routed on to

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 Reci ...

, she reported to Commander, Minecraft, Pacific Fleet, 7 January 1944, and by the 13th was underway for the

South Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

. Arriving at

Nouméa Nouméa () is the capital and largest city of the French Sui generis collectivity, special collectivity of New Caledonia and is also the largest Francophone city in Oceania. It is situated on a peninsula in the south of New Caledonia's main i ...

on the 29th, she joined ServRon 6 and until 15 April carried out exercises and duty assignments in the

New Hebrides New Hebrides, officially the New Hebrides Condominium () and named after the Hebrides in Scotland, was the colonial name for the island group in the South Pacific Ocean that is now Vanuatu. Native people had inhabited the islands for three th ...

. From the end of April until July, she worked in the Solomons and then moved on to

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...

, where she was briefly employed off

Finschhafen Finschhafen is a town east of Lae on the Huon Peninsula in Morobe Province of Papua New Guinea. The town is commonly misspelt as Finschafen or Finschaven. During World War II, the town was also referred to as Fitch Haven in the logs of some U. ...

. Operating again in the New Hebrides, based at

Espiritu Santo Espiritu Santo (, ; ) is the largest island in the nation of Vanuatu, with an area of and a population of around 40,000 according to the 2009 census. Geography The island belongs to the archipelago of the New Hebrides in the Pacific region ...

, by October, she sailed, with passengers, to

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

, and upon her return replenished her stores and departed, 13 November, for

Manus Manus may refer to: Relating to locations around New Guinea *Manus Island, a Papua New Guinean island in the Admiralty Archipelago ** Manus languages, languages spoken on Manus and islands close by ** Manus Regional Processing Centre, an offshore ...

Admiralty Islands The Admiralty Islands are an archipelago group of 40 islands in the Bismarck Archipelago, to the north of New Guinea in the South Pacific Ocean. These are also sometimes called the Manus Islands, after the largest island. These rainforest-cov ...

, to join the

7th Fleet The Seventh Fleet is a numbered fleet of the United States Navy. It is headquartered at U.S. Fleet Activities Yokosuka, in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. It is part of the United States Pacific Fleet. At present, it is the largest of th ...

Supporting the Leyte Landings

''Monadnock'' conducted training exercises at Manus until 23 December, when she departed for

Leyte Leyte ( ) is an island in the Visayas group of islands in the Philippines. It is eighth-largest and sixth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 2,626,970 as of 2020 census. Since the accessibility of land has been ...

. Arriving on the 30th, she soon sailed for

Mangarin Bay Mangarin Bay is a bay of the South China Sea, on the west coast of Mindoro island, in Occidental Mindoro Province of the Philippines. The bay is shoal In oceanography, geomorphology, and Earth science, geoscience, a shoal is a natural s ...

, on the southwest coast of

Mindoro Mindoro is the seventh largest and eighth-most populous island in the Philippines. With a total land area of 10,571 km2 ( 4,082 sq.mi ), it has a population of 1,408,454, as of the 2020 census. It is located off the southwestern coast of ...

, where she remained from 3 January to 6 February 1945. She then shifted, with TU 78.3.19, to

Subic Bay Subic Bay is a bay on the west coast of the island of Luzon in the Philippines, about northwest of Manila Bay. An extension of the South China Sea, its shores were formerly the site of a major United States Navy facility, U.S. Naval Base Subi ...

Luzon Luzon ( , ) is the largest and most populous List of islands in the Philippines, island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the List of islands of the Philippines, Philippine archipelago, it is the economic and political ce ...

, returning at the end of the month to Leyte. Thence, she steamed to

Ulithi Ulithi (, , or ; pronounced roughly as YOU-li-thee) is an atoll in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, about east of Yap, within Yap State. Name The name of the island goes back to Chuukic languages, Proto-Chuukic ''*úlú-diw ...

to stage for the forthcoming

Okinawa most commonly refers to: * Okinawa Prefecture, Japan's southernmost prefecture * Okinawa Island, the largest island of Okinawa Prefecture * Okinawa Islands, an island group including Okinawa itself * Okinawa (city), the second largest city in th ...

campaign. On 5 April, she departed in convoy for

Nansei Shoto The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Taiwan: the Ryukyu Islands are divided into the Satsunan Islands ( Ōsumi, Tokara and Amami) and Okinawa Prefecture ( Daitō, Miyako, Ya ...

, as a unit of TF 52. Operating as a unit of TG 52.2, she conducted minelaying operations at

Kerama Retto The are a subtropical island group southwest of Okinawa Island in Japan. Geography Four islands are inhabited: Tokashiki Island, Zamami Island, Aka Island, and Geruma Island. The islands are administered as Tokashiki Village and Zamami Vil ...

and off the

Hagushi Hagushi bay is located in Yomitan, Okinawa Island, Okinawa. The bay is at the mouth of Hija River. The north side of the mouth of the river has a public beach called Toguchi Beach. World War II Hagushi bay was the primary unloading point for ...

anchorage during May. Then, in convoy with TU 51.29.18, she departed for the United States, arriving at San Francisco, 24 June, for overhaul and conversion to Auxiliary Mine Layer ACM-10 (effective 10 July 1945).

Occupation duties

Conversion completed, she departed for Japan 6 September, transporting troops 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 ...

Guam Guam ( ; ) is an island that is an Territories of the United States, organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. Guam's capital is Hagåtña, Guam, Hagåtña, and the most ...

, and

while en route. Arriving at

Sasebo is a core city located in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. It is the second-largest city in Nagasaki Prefecture, after its capital, Nagasaki. , the city had an estimated population of 230,873 in 102,670 households, and a population density of 540 per ...

, 22 October, for occupation duty, she remained until 9 March 1946, when, with military passengers again embarked, she sailed for San Francisco. Arriving 7 April, she decommissioned 3 June, was struck from the

Navy List A Navy Directory, Navy List or Naval Register is an official list of naval officers, their ranks and seniority, the ships which they command or to which they are appointed, etc., that is published by the government or naval authorities of a co ...

3 July 1946, and transferred to the

Maritime Commission The United States Maritime Commission was an independent executive agency of the U.S. federal government that was created by the Merchant Marine Act of 1936, which was passed by Congress on June 29, 1936, and was abolished on May 24, 1950. The c ...

for disposal 20 August 1946 by a Navy declaration of surplus.DANFS date of 20 June 1947 transfer to MC is incorrect. MARAD data shows the ship was transferred in 1946 with a declaration of surplus message dated 20 August and the ship sold on 17 June 1947. A note dated 22 August 1946 shows the ship was transferred from Naval anchorage to the

Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet The Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet colloquially known as the mothball fleet, is located on the northwest side of Suisun Bay (the northern portion of the greater San Francisco Bay estuary) in Benicia, California. The fleet is within a regulated navig ...

. ''Monadnock'' earned three

battle stars A service star is a miniature bronze or silver five-pointed star in diameter that is authorized to be worn by members of the eight uniformed services of the United States on medals and ribbons to denote an additional award or service period. T ...

for her service in

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 ...

Later career

The ship remained in the reserve fleet until sold for $104,000 17 June 1947 to James J. Wilkinson for operation with signal WNOQ and home port of Norfolk, Virginia. ''Monadnock'' was sold to a Panamanian company in 1949, and renamed ''Karukara''. Sold again in 1952 and renamed ''Monte de la Esperanza'' she operated for more than 20 years transporting bananas from the

to the United Kingdom. Sold to the Instituto Social de la Marina (Social Institute of the Navy), Spain and renamed ''

Esperanza del Mar There have been at least three Ships bearing the name ; ), operated by the ' (Social Institute of the Navy) on behalf of the Spanish Ministry of Employment and Social Security serving as hospital ships for Spanish fishermen. * ''Esperanza del Mar ...

'', she was equipped as a hospital ship and operated out of the Canary Islands assisting fishing boats for more than 10 years.Two later ships of the same name served this function. ''Esperanza del Mar'' was deliberately sunk as an

Artificial reef An artificial reef (AR) is a human-created freshwater or marine benthic structure. Typically built in areas with a generally featureless bottom to promote Marine biology#Reefs, marine life, it may be intended to control #Erosion prevention, erosio ...

in 2000 off the coast of Spain.

Footnotes

References

External links

Christening of S.S. ''Cavalier'', built for Philadelphia and Norfolk S.S. Company
(Hagley Museum and Library)
Launching of ''Cavalier'' #437 (bow view on ways)
(Hagley Museum and Library)
Launching of ''Cavalier'' #437 (in river)
(Hagley Museum and Library)
S.S. ''Quaker'' and S.S. ''Cavalier'', built for Philadelphia and Norfolk S.S. Company
(Hagley Museum and Library)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Monadnock (Acm-10) Ships built by Pusey and Jones World War II mine warfare vessels of the United States Minesweepers of the United States Navy 1941 ships