USS Method (AM-264)

Career (United States)
Name:	USS Method (AM-264)
Builder:	American Ship Building Company
Laid down:	7 June 1943
Launched:	23 October 1943
Commissioned:	10 July 1944
Decommissioned:	20 May 1945
Fate:	Transferred to Soviet Union, 21 May 1945
Reclassified:	MSF-264, 7 February 1955
Career (Soviet Union)
Name:	T-274
Acquired:	21 May 1945
Refit:	converted to naval trawler, 1948
Renamed:	Purga, 1948
Struck:	1964
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 Method (AM-264) 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-274. The Soviets converted her into a naval trawler in 1948 and renamed her Purga. She was stricken in 1964, never having been returned to U.S. custody. Because of the Cold War, the U.S. Navy was unaware of this fate and the vessel remained on the American Naval Vessel Register until she was struck on 1 January 1983.

Career

Method was laid down 7 June 1943 by the American Ship Building Company, Lorain, Ohio; launched 23 October 1943, sponsored by Mrs. K. C. Thorton; and commissioned 10 July 1944, Lt. M. A. Cartwright in command. Method departed Lorain, Ohio, 12 July, and steamed via the St. Lawrence River to Little Creek, Virginia. Arriving there 19 August she underwent shakedown training and on 27 September headed north to Casco Bay, Maine, for abbreviated antisubmarine warfare training. Thence, as a unit of MinDiv 37, she turned her bow south and on 5 October arrived at Port Royal Bay, Bermuda. She remained at that western terminus of the southern convoy route until 8 November when she got underway for Norfolk, Virginia. There, for a month and a half, she conducted patrols and minesweeping operations and towed targets.

At the end of December Method reported for duty with Task Force TF 29, joining MinDiv 31. On 15 January 1945 she cleared Hampton Roads as escort to a gasoline tanker bound for Navassa Island. Detached from that duty on the 20th, she continued on to Panama, transited the Panama Canal on the 24th and arrived at San Diego, California, 2 February to report for duty with the Western Sea Frontier. In mid-month she steamed north to Washington where she operated with the Strait of Juan de Fuca Defense Unit before continuing on, 26 March, to her ultimate destination, Cold Bay, Alaska. Arriving 4 April, she trained naval personnel of the USSR in preparation for the transfer of the ship to that country under the terms of the lend-lease agreement.

On 20 May 1945, with the lowering of the American flag, Method decommissioned and was recommissioned as a ship of the Soviet Navy, identified as T-274. The Soviets converted T-274 into a naval trawler in 1948 and renamed her Purga. She was stricken in 1964, never having been return 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-264 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.

• NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive - Method (MSF 264) - ex-AM-264