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N7KTP > NAVNET 05.10.04 21:21l 105 Lines 5954 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 24088_N7FSP
Read: GUEST
Subj: USS STRIVE (AM-117/ MSF-117/ MMC-1)
Path: DB0FHN<DB0MRW<OK0PPL<DB0RGB<DB0AAB<DB0FSG<I4UKI<IK5CKL<IZ0AWG<VK6ISP<
VE2PAK<ON0AR<N7FSP
Sent: 041005/1123z @:N7FSP.#SEA.#WWA.WA.USA.NOAM West Seattle, WA. on 145.010
Strive swept mines from Italian beaches on D-Day
By FRED MILES WATSON - Managing Editor – Northwest Navigator
The Auk class minesweeper USS Strive (AM-117) was built by American
Shipbuilding Co., Cleveland, Ohio and commissioned on Oct 27,1942 with
Lt. Cmdr. J. L. Maloney in command.
She displaced 890-tons and was 221-feet in length. Strive's draft
was 1O feet, nine inches and she was outfitted with General Motors
diesels, that produced 2,070 shaft horsepower via two shafts and two
propellers. A total of 105 Sailors were in Strive and she was equipped
with one, 3-inch gunmount, two 4Omm antiaircraft gunmounts, two single
20mm gun mounts, two depth charge tracks, and five depth charge
projectiles. She could reach a top speed of 18 knots.
Strive departed Cleveland on Nov. 20 and proceeded, via the St.
Lawrence River, to the Atlantic. She arrived at Boston on Dec. 10, 1942
and held her shakedown cruise between there and Casco Bay, Maine.
Following operations along the East Coast, she sailed from New York
harbor on March 19 with a task group bound, via Bermuda, for North
Africa. She arrived at Tenes, Algeria, on April 13 and operated between
Algerian and Tunisian ports for the next few months.
Strive joined the invasion force en route to Palermo, Sicily, and
arrived off the landing beaches on July 9. She swept mines and
patrolled off the beachhead until the 15th, and returned to Palermo on
Aug. 1.
The minesweeper then escorted a convoy to Bizerte to join Task Force
(TF) 81 the Salerno invasion force. She sailed early in September for
Italy. The minesweeper preceded the fleet toward the beaches, clearing
paths for the transports and landing craft. As the Allied 5th Army
landed on Sept. 9, Strive guided landing craft through swept channels
to the beaches and led cruisers to positions to support the landing
forces. The ships were under enemy air attack from the 9th to the 11th,
but Strive was not damaged. When her mission had been accomplished, she
escorted convoys between North African ports and Naples until late
December 1943. She was attached to Mine Squadron 6 in early December
and remained in that squadron while operating in the European theater.
Strive operated in the Gulf of Naples until Jan. 13, 1944 when she
was attached to landing force TF 81 which was to land American and
British troops in the Anzio- Nettuno area, 60 miles behind German
lines. The ships sortied on Jan. 21, and Strive arrived at the assault
area in the early hours of Jan. 22, (D-Day). She swept mines and acted
as a patrol ship until Feb. 2, when she escorted a convoy to Naples and
then proceeded to Bizerte. The ship shuttled between North African and
Italian ports until April 21 when she departed Naples for Anzio to
sweep and patrol from April 22 to 29. Strive was at Anzio from May 28
to July 9 and again from Aug. 2 to 7.
Strive was at Salerno on Aug. 11 and, three days later, she was
assigned to Operation "Dragoon" the invasion of southern France. She
arrived at the assault area off St. Raphael on the morning of Aug. 15.
The minesweepers cleared a transport area and swept lanes to the
beaches. Strive then swept and patrolled the Golfe de Frejus area until
the 28th when she began sweeping off Toulon. Strive returned to Naples
on Oct. 9 and to Oran on Nov. 15.
Strive joined a landing craft convoy as an escort and sailed on
Nov. 24 for the United States. She arrived at Hampton Roads on Dec. 11,
1944 and entered the Norfolk Navy Yard for an overhaul.
Strive got underway on Feb. 15 with a task unit bound for Hawaii,
transited the Panama Canal, and arrived at Pearl Harbor on March 18.
On April 27, the minesweeper headed for the Marshall Islands and
arrived at Eniwetok on May 6. The next day, she sailed for the Marianas
as a convoy escort. Strive stopped at Guam on the 11th, sailed the next
day for Okinawa, and arrived at Kerania Retto on the 20th. Strive swept
off Lheya Retto until June 11, when she turned to patrol duty out of
Keran1a Retto.
On Aug. 13, two days before hostilities ended, she was ordered to
sweep the Skagway area of the East China Sea. She swept Kagoshima Bay
and Bungo Suido until early October, when she returned to Okinawa. In
November, she swept the Sherlys area off Formosa.
On Dec. 20, she departed Kiirin, Formosa, for China and arrived at
Shanghai on Dec. 22, 1945. In early January 1946, the minesweeper began
the long voyage back to the United States. She called at Eniwetok late
in January, stopped at Pearl Harbor from Feb. 2 to 7, and arrived at
San Pedro on Feb. 14. She moved down to San Diego and was given a pre-
inactivation overhaul prior to being decommissioned. Strive was placed
in reserve, out of commission, and attached to the 19th Fleet at San
Diego.
Strive was recommissioned on Jan. 1, 1952. After refresher training
in the San Diego Bay area she sailed for South Carolina, via Acapulco,
Panama, and Guantanamo Bay, arriving at Charleston on April 19. She
operated between Charleston and Norfolk until Aug. 25 when she
commenced operations with the Atlantic Fleet. Strive visited Falmouth,
England in September and moved on into the Mediterranean in October.
She spent most of the next 14 months there making port calls at
Naples, Piraeus, La Spezia, Golfe Juan, Lisbon, Toulon, and other
exotic ports. The ship was reclassified fleet minesweeper (MSF-117)
(steel-hulled) on Feb. 7, 1955. Strive was again placed in reserve, out
of commission, on Jan. 8, 1955, attached to the Atlantic Reserve Fleet,
and berthed at Green Cove Springs, Fla. Her designation was changed
again on Oct. 31,1958 to a coastal minesweeper, MMC-l. Strive was
struck from the Navy list on Oct. 1, 1959 and transferred to the
Kingdom of Norway the same day and renan1ed Gor (N-48).
USS Strive (MMC-l) was awarded seven battle stars for her World War
II service.
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