Barbican

The USS Barbican (ACM 5), was a mine-laying ship in the United States Navy.

History[edit]

Construction and Commission[edit]

After the Marietta Manufacturing Co. finished her construction at Point Pleasant, West Virginia, she was delivered to the Army and commissioned as the mine planter USAMP Col. George Armistead.

Navy Acquisition[edit]

On January 6, 1945, the United States Navy acquired her from the Army Coast Artillery in Charleston, S.C. After the Navy acquisition, she was renamed the USAMP USS Barbican and designated an auxiliary minelayer, ACM 5, on January 19, 1945. On March 24, 1945, the Charleston Navy Yard converted her for naval service and placed in commission under the command of Lt. Comdr. Alexander Anderson, Jr.

Service in the Pacific Theater and Decommission[edit]

Following shakedown training in Charleston between March 31 and April 24, 1945, the Barbican arrived in the Pacific late in the summer of 1945. The Barbican did not depart Pearl Harbor, bound for the Western Pacific, until August 17, two days after the Japanese capitulation officially ended World War II. On her way west, he auxiliary minelayer made one stop at Midway Island before arriving at Saipan in the Marianas on September 20. There, she reported for duty with the Commander, Minecraft, Pacific Fleet. For a little more than a month, she served as tender and flagship for a squadron of motor minesweepers (YMS), performing those duties both at Saipan and at Okinawa.

Late in October, the ship moved from Okinawa to Sasebo, Japan, where she took part in the postwar occupation of Japan. On February 24, 1946, she headed back to the United States to report to the Commandant, 12th Naval District, for duty pending inactivation. On June 12, 1946, she was placed out of commission and simultaneously transferred to the Coast Guard. Her name was struck from the Navy list on July 19, 1946.^[1]

References[edit]

1. ↑ Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships