USS ''Spectacle'' (AM-305) was a steel-hulled

Admirable class minesweeper The ''Admirable'' class was one of the largest and most successful classes of minesweepers ordered by the United States Navy during World War II. Typically, minesweepers detected and removed naval mines before the rest of the fleet arrived, the ...

built for the U.S. Navy during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. A trained crew boarded the new vessel, practiced with her minesweeping gear, and then proceeded to the

Pacific Ocean 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 ...

to clear mines from Japanese beaches so that Allied forces could invade. While performing this dangerous task of mine clearance, a Japanese plane strafed her, and another deliberately crashed into her. When she returned to the United States, her battle damage was so severe that the U.S. Navy decided to scrap, rather than to repair, her. She was awarded two battle stars. ''Spectacle'' was laid down on 24 May 1943 by

Associated Shipbuilders Puget Sound Bridge and Dredging Company was a major shipbuilding and construction company, located in Seattle, Washington, on the southwestern corner of Harbor Island, Seattle, Harbor Island, an artificial island in Elliott Bay. The Bridge and Dr ...

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

; launched on 10 October 1943; and, commissioned on 11 August 1944.

World War II Pacific Theatre operations

After fitting out at

Puget Sound Puget Sound ( ) is a sound of the Pacific Northwest, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, and part of the Salish Sea. It is located along the northwestern coast of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected ma ...

and conducting trial runs at

, ''Spectacle'' sailed on the 31st for

San Pedro, California San Pedro ( ; Spanish: " St. Peter") is a neighborhood within the City of Los Angeles, California. Formerly a separate city, it consolidated with Los Angeles in 1909. The Port of Los Angeles, a major international seaport, is partially located wi ...

. Following her

shakedown Shakedown may refer to: * Shakedown (continuum mechanics), a type of plastic deformation * Shakedown (testing) or a shakedown cruise, a period of testing undergone by a ship, airplane or other craft before being declared operational * Extortion, ...

training, held from 5 to 24 September, she moved to the

West Coast West Coast or west coast may refer to: Geography Australia * Western Australia *Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia * West Coast, Tasmania **West Coast Range, mountain range in the region Canada * Britis ...

Sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigation, navigate, measure distances (ranging), communicate with or detect o ...

School,

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

, for equipment testing and antisubmarine warfare training that lasted until 27 October. The ship got underway for

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

the next day and arrived at

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 Re ...

on 5 November. The following week, ''Spectacle'' sailed in the screen of a convoy and arrived at

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, on 20 November. On the 27th, she and departed

, and headed back toward

. From 9 December 1944 to 21 January 1945, the minesweeper conducted extensive minesweeping and training exercises with fleet units in Hawaiian waters.

Invasion of Iwo Jima operations

On 22 January, ''Spectacle'' sortied with Task Group (TG) 51.13, Tractor Group Baker, part of the

Iwo Jima Iwo Jima (, also ), known in Japan as , is one of the Japanese Volcano Islands and lies south of the Bonin Islands. Together with other islands, they form the Ogasawara Archipelago. The highest point of Iwo Jima is Mount Suribachi at high. ...

assault force as part of the

Battle of Iwo Jima The Battle of Iwo Jima (19 February – 26 March 1945) was a major battle in which the United States Marine Corps (USMC) and United States Navy (USN) landed on and eventually captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Imperial Japanese Army (IJ ...

. After staging at

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 it ...

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 ...

, and

Saipan Saipan ( ch, Sa’ipan, cal, Seipél, formerly in es, Saipán, and in ja, 彩帆島, Saipan-tō) is the largest island of the Northern Mariana Islands, a Commonwealth (U.S. insular area), commonwealth of the United States in the western Pa ...

Mariana Islands The Mariana Islands (; also the Marianas; in Chamorro: ''Manislan Mariånas'') are a crescent-shaped archipelago comprising the summits of fifteen longitudinally oriented, mostly dormant volcanic mountains in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, betw ...

, the group arrived off Iwo Jima. ''Spectacle'' began sweeping mines on 16 February and remained in waters near Iwo Jima until 7 March. She swept mines; acted as an escort and

patrol A patrol is commonly a group of personnel, such as Law enforcement officer, law enforcement officers, military personnel, or Security guard, security personnel, that are assigned to monitor or secure a specific geographic area. Etymology Fro ...

ship; and, on several occasions, bombarded enemy targets ashore. On 7 March, ''Spectacle'', accompanied by , withdrew to

Ulithi Ulithi ( yap, Wulthiy, , or ) is an atoll in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, about east of Yap. Overview Ulithi consists of 40 islets totaling , surrounding a lagoon about long and up to wide—at one of the largest i ...

for replenishment and repair.

Invasion of Okinawa operations

''Spectacle'' sailed from Ulithi on 19 March with TG 52.4, composed of Minesweeper Group One, for

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 ...

to sweep mines from waters near that island for the forthcoming

amphibious Amphibious means able to use either land or water. In particular it may refer to: Animals * Amphibian, a vertebrate animal of the class Amphibia (many of which live on land and breed in water) * Amphibious caterpillar * Amphibious fish, a fish ...

assault which was scheduled to begin on 1 April as part of the

Battle of Okinawa The , codenamed Operation Iceberg, was a major battle of the Pacific War fought on the island of Okinawa by United States Army (USA) and United States Marine Corps (USMC) forces against the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA). The initial invasion of ...

. She started minesweeping and patrol duties at Okinawa on 25 March. On 28 April, her

whaleboat A whaleboat is a type of open boat that was used for catching whales, or a boat of similar design that retained the name when used for a different purpose. Some whaleboats were used from whaling ships. Other whaleboats would operate from the sh ...

rescued 14 survivors from which had been hit by a

kamikaze , officially , were a part of the Japanese Special Attack Units of military aviators who flew suicide attacks for the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, intending to d ...

Under Constant Attack and hit by a Kamikaze

On 4 May, the minesweeper sank two small Japanese boats and set one afire with gunfire. That evening, she was strafed by an enemy plane. She sank another small boat on 13 May; and, the next evening, she sank five small suicide boats. ''Spectacle'' took patrol station near

Ie Shima , previously romanized in English as Ie Shima, is an island in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, lying a few kilometers off the Motobu Peninsula on Okinawa Island. The island measures in circumference and covers . As of December 2012 the island had ...

on 22 May and, early that morning, splashed a " Betty". At 0805, a diving

crashed into the minesweeper, striking the ship under her port 40-millimeter gun tub, causing extensive damage and blowing many of her crew overboard. Her

rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (generally aircraft, air or watercraft, water). On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to ...

jammed. She dropped

anchor An anchor is a device, normally made of metal , used to secure a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the craft from drifting due to wind or current. The word derives from Latin ''ancora'', which itself comes from the Greek ἄγ ...

to avoid running over her men in the water. At 0815, USS LSM-135 began picking up survivors; but, 15 minutes later, the medium landing ship was also hit by a kamikaze and burst into flames. ''Spectacles losses were: 11 killed outright, four who died of wounds, six wounded, and 14 missing in action.

Returning Stateside in a Damaged Condition

The ship was towed to

by . Under power from her starboard engine, she proceeded on the 26th, to

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 Vill ...

, where she was temporarily repaired by

auxiliary repair dock An auxiliary repair dock (ARD) is a type of floating drydock employed by the U.S. Navy, especially during World War II. The Navy commissioned 33 ARD vessels: ARD-1 through ARD-33. ARDs were self-sustaining in World War II. ARDs have a rudder to hel ...

USS ARD-1 USS ARD-1 was an auxiliary repair dock serving with the United States Navy during World War II as Auxiliary floating drydock. ''ARD-1'' was built by the Pacific Bridge Company and completed in September 1934. ''ARD-1'' was commissioned at Alameda ...

(no name). She sailed for

on 14 June, departed that island on the 26th, and headed via

for the

west coast West Coast or west coast may refer to: Geography Australia * Western Australia *Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia * West Coast, Tasmania **West Coast Range, mountain range in the region Canada * Britis ...

Recommended for Scrapping

''Spectacle'' arrived at

, on 1 August and, the next day, moved to the

Bridge and Dredging Company's dock for battle damage repairs; but no work was begun. On 5 September, the Pacific Board of Inspection and Survey recommended that she be scrapped and sold. Between 6 September and 18 October, all of her material and equipment was removed and, on the 19th, the ship was decommissioned. ''Spectacle'' was struck from the

Navy list A Navy Directory, formerly the 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 author ...

on 5 December 1945 and sold to Northwest Merchandising Service in April 1947 for scrap.

Awards

''Spectacle'' received two battle stars for

service.

References

External links

NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive - Spectacle (AM 305)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spectacle Admirable-class minesweepers Ships built in Seattle 1943 ships World War II minesweepers of the United States Maritime incidents in May 1945