USS Prevail (AM-107) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

USS Prevail (AM-107) was an acquired by the United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

for the dangerous task of removing mines from minefields laid in the water to prevent ships from passing.

Prevail, a steel-hulled minesweeper, was named after the word "prevail," meaning to gain ascendancy through strength or superiority.

Prevail was laid down by Pennsylvania Shipyards Inc., Beaumont, Texas

Beaumont, Texas

Beaumont is a city in and county seat of Jefferson County, Texas, United States, within the Beaumont–Port Arthur Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city's population was 118,296 at the 2010 census. With Port Arthur and Orange, it forms the Golden Triangle, a major industrial area on the...

, 15 November 1941; launched 13 September 1942; sponsored by Mrs. T. B. Moran; and commissioned 17 April 1943, Comdr. A. V. Wallis, USNR, in command.

World War II Mediterranean operations

After training at Key West, Florida

Key West, Florida

Key West is a city in Monroe County, Florida, United States. The city encompasses the island of Key West, the part of Stock Island north of U.S. 1 , Sigsbee Park , Fleming Key , and Sunset Key...

, Prevail spent several months on escort duty with convoys between the U.S. East Coast and Casablanca

Casablanca

Casablanca is a city in western Morocco, located on the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Grand Casablanca region.Casablanca is Morocco's largest city as well as its chief port. It is also the biggest city in the Maghreb. The 2004 census recorded a population of 2,949,805 in the prefecture...

. Beginning 8 September, she took part in the main sweeps off Salerno

Salerno

Salerno is a city and comune in Campania and is the capital of the province of the same name. It is located on the Gulf of Salerno on the Tyrrhenian Sea....

and remained off that beachhead on patrol for thirty days. The next operation consisted of sweeps for the establishment of the Anzio

Anzio

Anzio is a city and comune on the coast of the Lazio region of Italy, about south of Rome.Well known for its seaside harbour setting, it is a fishing port and a departure point for ferries and hydroplanes to the Pontine Islands of Ponza, Palmarola and Ventotene...

beachhead, 21 to 24 January 1944, where Prevail was subjected to intense air attack and was damaged by a near bomb miss which forced her to proceed to Palermo

Palermo

Palermo is a city in Southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Province of Palermo. The city is noted for its history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,700 years old...

and Oran

Oran

Oran is a major city on the northwestern Mediterranean coast of Algeria, and the second largest city of the country.It is the capital of the Oran Province . The city has a population of 759,645 , while the metropolitan area has a population of approximately 1,500,000, making it the second largest...

for repairs.

Supporting Operation Dragoon

In April 1944, Prevail resumed operations off Anzio and Naples. On 17 August she departed Naples as part of the force for the invasion of southern France

Operation Dragoon

Operation Dragoon was the Allied invasion of southern France on August 15, 1944, during World War II. The invasion was initiated via a parachute drop by the 1st Airborne Task Force, followed by an amphibious assault by elements of the U.S. Seventh Army, followed a day later by a force made up...

. Between 18–23 August she acted as control ship for sweeping operations at Cavalaire-sur-Mer

Cavalaire-sur-Mer

Cavalaire-sur-Mer is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France.-History:During World War II, on August 16, 1944, it was one of the sites of a beach landing in Operation Dragoon, the Allied invasion of southern FranceCavalaire-sur-Mer is probably...

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, the first step in opening the port of Marseille

Marseille

Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...

. Miscellaneous assignments along the southern coast of France

France

followed and in November she was ordered to the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

Transfer to Pacific Theatre of operations

Arriving at Norfolk, Virginia

Norfolk, Virginia

Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....

, 11 December, Prevail was reassigned to the Pacific Fleet

United States Pacific Fleet

The United States Pacific Fleet is a Pacific Ocean theater-level component command of the United States Navy that provides naval resources under the operational control of the United States Pacific Command. Its home port is at Pearl Harbor Naval Base, Hawaii. It is commanded by Admiral Patrick M...

and got underway from Norfolk, Virginia

Norfolk, Virginia

15 February 1945. Arriving Okinawa on 23 May, she engaged in antisubmarine patrols off Kerama Retto

Kerama Retto

The are a group of 22 islands located southwest of Okinawa Island in Japan. Four of the islands are inhabited:,., and. The islands are within Shimajiri District. The Kerama-shotō coral reef is a Ramsar Site....

under almost constant attack by Japanese

Empire of Japan

The Empire of Japan is the name of the state of Japan that existed from the Meiji Restoration on 3 January 1868 to the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of...

kamikaze

Kamikaze

The were suicide attacks by military aviators from the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, designed to destroy as many warships as possible....

aircraft. Then in July she conducted minesweeping operations off Okinawa and south toward Formosa

Taiwan

Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

, and, in September, helped clear the entrance to Japan's Inland Sea. From 20 November to 23 December, she assisted in the operations to clear the merchant sea lanes of the East China Sea

East China Sea

The East China Sea is a marginal sea east of China. It is a part of the Pacific Ocean and covers an area of 1,249,000 km² or 750,000 square miles.-Geography:...

and supported SAR operations among the islands off Formosa.

New Year's Day

New Year's Day

New Year's Day is observed on January 1, the first day of the year on the modern Gregorian calendar as well as the Julian calendar used in ancient Rome...

1946 found Prevail on the Whangpoo River

Huangpu River

The Huangpu River is a -long river in China flowing through Shanghai...

at Shanghai

Shanghai

Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...

, China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

, where she remained until returning to San Pedro, California, 15 February.

Transferred to the San Diego Group of the Pacific Reserve Fleet on 9 April, Prevail decommissioned 31 May 1946.

Reassignment as Survey Ship AGS-20

Prevail recommissioned 1 April 1952, was reclassified as USS Prevail (AGS–20), and underwent conversion to a survey ship at New York Naval Shipyard. Reporting in late August to Commander, Hydrographic Survey Group 1, in October, she undertook her first surveying assignment in the Cape Hatteras

Cape Hatteras

Cape Hatteras is a cape on the coast of North Carolina. It is the point that protrudes the farthest to the southeast along the northeast-to-southwest line of the Atlantic coast of North America...

area. From 1953 to 1956 she conducted survey and cable laying operations in the Caribbean

Caribbean

The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...

, along the Southern and Eastern coasts of the United States north to Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...

, and in the South Atlantic Ocean.

During 1957 Prevail operated along the Newfoundland and Labrador

Newfoundland and Labrador

Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada. Situated in the country's Atlantic region, it incorporates the island of Newfoundland and mainland Labrador with a combined area of . As of April 2011, the province's estimated population is 508,400...

Coast and briefly in the Bahama Islands. On 7 February 1958 she departed for the Mediterranean, returning 9 May. From 19 May to 27 July 1959, Prevail conducted sounding surveys in the western Mediterranean, then moved to the eastern Mediterranean. After returning home 10 September, she spent the next four years conducting surveys in the Caribbean

Caribbean

, off Bermuda

Bermuda

Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...

, and off Newfoundland

Newfoundland and Labrador

and Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia

Decommissioning

After decommissioning, Prevail was struck from the Navy List

Navy List

A 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 country....

on 10 January 1964 and sold to Union Minerals and Alloys Corp., New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, 13 October 1964.

External links

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