USS Penetrate (AM-271)

Career (United States)
Name:	USS Penetrate (AM-271)
Builder:	Gulf Shipbuilding Co.
Laid down:	5 January 1943
Launched:	11 September 1943
Sponsored by:	Miss Frances M. Moyer
Commissioned:	31 March 1944
Decommissioned:	21 May 1946
Fate:	Transferred to Soviet Union, 22 May 1945
Reclassified:	MSF-271, 7 February 1955
Career (Soviet Union)
Name:	T-280
Acquired:	22 May 1945
Refit:	converted to naval trawler, 1948
Renamed:	Taifun, 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 Penetrate (AM-271) 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-280. The Soviets converted her into a naval trawler in 1948 and renamed her Taifun. 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

Penetrate was laid down by the Gulf Shipbuilding; Corp., Chickasaw, Alabama, 5 January 1943; launched 11 September 1943; sponsored by Miss Frances M. Moyer, and commissioned 31 March 1944, Lt. M. S. Lazaron, Jr., in command.

On 14 April 1944 Penetrate stood down river to the Gulf of Mexico whence she sailed for the U.S. East Coast and shakedown in Chesapeake Bay. By late May she was undergoing training in Casco Bay, and, on 1 June, she steamed north to Argentia, Newfoundland. where she was converted to a weather patrol vessel. For the next six months she patrolled between Greenland and Canada to track and record changes in the polar maritime air masses affecting the European battlefronts and the transatlantic air routes. In early January 1945, Penetrate's meteorological instruments were removed and minesweeping gear was reinstalled. On the 31st she headed south to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, arriving 7 February for an abbreviated overhaul prior to transfer under Lend Lease to the Soviet Union. Penetrate sailed 27 February for the Panama Canal en route to the transfer point: Cold Bay, Alaska. She arrived 15 April and for the next month trained the Soviet crew.

The Soviet Navy assumed responsibility for the minesweeper following Penetrate's decommissioning and formal transfer on 21 May 1945. The Soviets converted T-280 into a naval trawler in 1948 and renamed her Taifun. 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-271 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.

• "Penetrate". Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive. NavSource Online. Retrieved 2008-02-18.