USS Measure (AM-263)

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Career (United States)
Name: USS Measure (AM-263)
Builder: American Ship Building Company
Laid down: 5 June 1943
Launched: 23 October 1943
Commissioned: 5 May 1944
Decommissioned: 20 May 1945
Fate: Transferred to Soviet Union, 21 May 1945
Reclassified: MSF-265, 7 February 1955
Career (Soviet Union)
Name: T-273
Acquired: 21 May 1945
Refit: convert to naval trawler, 1948
Renamed: Buran, 1948
Struck: 1964
Honors and
awards:
Order of the Red Banner
Fate: unknown
General characteristics
Class and type: Admirable-class minesweeper
Displacement: 650 tons
Length: 184 ft 6 in (56.24 m)
Beam: 33 ft (10 m)
Draft: 9 ft 9 in (2.97 m)
Propulsion: 2 × ALCO 539 diesel engines, 1,710 shp (1.3 MW)
Farrel-Birmingham single reduction gear
2 shafts
Speed: 14.8 knots (27.4 km/h)
Complement: 104
Armament: 1 × 3"/50 caliber gun DP
2 × twin Bofors 40 mm guns
1 × Hedgehog anti-submarine mortar
2 × Depth charge tracks
Service record
Part of: US Atlantic Fleet (1944-1945)

USS Measure (AM-263) was an Admirable-class minesweeper built for the United States Navy during World War II. In 1945, she was transferred to the Soviet Navy under Lend-Lease as T-273. The Soviets converted her into a naval trawler in 1948 and renamed her Buran. She was never having returned to U.S. custody. Because of the Cold War, the U.S. Navy was unaware of the ship's fate and the vessel remained on the American Naval Vessel Register until she was struck on 1 January 1983.

Career

Measure was laid down by American Shipbuilding Co., Lorain, Ohio, 5 June 1943; launched 23 October 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Richard W. Mills, Jr.; and commissioned 3 May 1944, Lt. Joseph J. Summerell, Jr., USNR., in command.

After shakedown in the St. Lawrence River, Measure departed Cleveland, Ohio, 21 May for Boston, Massachusetts, with a stop at Halifax, Nova Scotia, arriving 2 June. On 16 June she continued on to Little Creek, Virginia, arriving the 18th. Assigned to Mine Squadron 13, she spent most of the next month in minesweeping exercises in the Chesapeake Bay, then reported to Service Squadron 5 on 23 July for towing duty.

On 31 July Measure began operations as training and school ship out of Little Creek which continued into mid-December. On 26 December she moved to Norfolk and 3 January 1945 got underway for the U.S. West Coast, via Miami, Florida, and the Panama Canal, arriving San Diego, California, 28 February. Attached to the Western sea frontier, Measure steamed north 1 March; made a stopover at Seattle, Washington, 5 to 26 March; and arrived Kodiak, Alaska, the 31st for minesweeping duty.

After the German surrender on 8 May, Measure was leased to the Soviet Union on 21 May as T-273. The Soviets converted T-273 into a naval trawler in 1948 and renamed her Buran. She was never returned to U.S. Navy custody. Her ultimate fate is unreported in secondary sources.

Unaware of the ship's fate, the U.S. Navy reclassified her as MSF-263 on 7 February 1955, and she remained on the American Naval Vessel Register until her name was stricken on 1 January 1983.

References

This article includes text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.