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USS ''Vigilance'' (AM-324) was an acquired by the United States Navy for the dangerous task of removing mines from minefields laid in the water to prevent ships from passing. ''Vigilance'' was originally laid down for the ''Royal Navy'' under the lend-lease program as HMS ''Exploit'' (BAM-24) on 28 November 1942 at Seattle, Washington, by the Associated Shipbuilding Corp. However, the United States Navy decided to keep the ship and renamed her USS ''Vigilance (AM-324)'' on 23 January 1943. Launched on 5 April 1943, the minesweeper was commissioned at her builder's yard on 28 February 1944, Lt. Comdr. William C. Hayes, USNR, in command. After fitting-out, radio direction finder calibration, sea trials, and minesweeping indoctrination, ''Vigilance'' departed Seattle, Washington on 21 March, bound for southern California for type training, shakedown, and training in anti-submarine warfare (ASW) tactics. == World War II Pacific operations == Escorting and ''PCS-1W'', the new minesweeper departed San Diego, California on 4 May, bound for Hawaii. Upon her arrival at Pearl Harbor on 11 May, ''Vigilance'' delivered 111 bags of mail to the Fleet Post Office and, three days later, got underway with for the Marshall Islands. The two minesweepers screened , , and to Majuro which they reached on 25 May. ''Vigilance'' departed Majuro at 0800 on the 26th to return to Hawaii, intercepted en route, and relieved of escorting that cargo ship for the remainder of the voyage to Oahu. After arriving at Pearl Harbor on 2 June, ''Vigilance'' underwent upkeep and maintenance before moving to Brown's Camp, Oahu, for experimental minesweeping evolutions which she conducted into mid-June. On 14 June, ''Vigilance'' weighed anchor as part of the screen for convoy 4313-A, a group of three Navy cargo ships, three civilian merchantmen, and refrigerator ship . and joined ''Vigilance'' in escorting the convoy to Eniwetok where they arrived on 25 June. During the second of two more round-trip runs from Pearl Harbor to the Marshalls, ''Vigilance'' suffered an engine casualty - a damaged exhaust manifold - that was beyond the capacity of the ship's force to handle. Accordingly, she went alongside at Eniwetok on 24 September for repairs. === Return to Hawaii for repairs === Making port back at Pearl Harbor on 5 October, the ship underwent more repairs and maintenance work and tested minesweeping gear off Brown's Camp. After getting underway for the Marshalls again on 23 October, escorting , ''Vigilance'' twice picked up "doubtful" submarine contacts — on 24 and 28 October — and fired hedgehog patterns on both occasions. She made port at Eniwetok on 3 November but got underway for Guam two days later, escorting a convoy consisting of , , , , and . The minesweeper subsequently performed local escort duty between Guam, Peleliu, and Ulithi, arriving at the latter on 14 November. She patrolled the approaches to Mugai channel, Ulithi, from the 17th through the 19th. === Attack on Japanese submarine === Five minutes before sunrise on 20 November, while on patrol station number 4, ''Vigilance'' sighted a small wake broad on the starboard quarter. Southbound on her patrol, the minesweeper had swung wide to avoid fouling the screen of an outward-bound task group of three destroyers, a cruiser, and other vessels when she made the sighting. She then put over full right rudder and accelerated to full speed as her crew went to battle stations. With depth charges set on "shallow" the minecraft bent on speed to make an attack but, much to her chagrin, found that the wake had completely disappeared. In the midst of all the hulls and wakes created by the Saipan-bound task group, picking up the contact proved impossible. ''Vigilance'' signaled the location of the wake to . Moments later, the cruiser in the convoy signaled that she sighted a periscope on her starboard quarter. arrived on the scene first and disposed of what proved to be a midget submarine by ramming and depth charges. === Incident with American TBF aircraft === After that incident, ''Vigilance'' — aided by a pair of American Grumman TBFs from VMTB-232 — remained on patrol off the channel entrance. At 0031 on 21 November, a TBF airplane bore in low from astern, as if to challenge the minecraft. Men in ''Vigilance'' thought that the plane might have been a new arrival, unfamiliar with their ship. The plane suddenly made a sharp bank. A wing-tip caught in the water and the plane plunged into the sea about one-half mile from ''Vigilance''. The plane was immediately enveloped in flame; and, shortly thereafter, the aircraft's depth charges exploded. To compound the confusion, a second TBF came in and, thinking the wreckage on the water was a surfaced submarine, strafed the floating plane. Vigilance launched her motor whaleboat at 0051 and picked up a survivor — Corporal Robert M. DeHart, USMC — who had almost miraculously remained alive despite the crash, the explosion, and the machine-gun fire. ''Vigilance'' continued the search in the hope of picking up other survivors but found none. At 0524, the minecraft was ordered to transfer the wounded man to hospital facilities ashore. === Patrol and escort duties === Without let-up except for an occasional day or so of maintenance and upkeep, ''Vigilance'' patrolled off Ulithi's Mugai channel for the remainder of the year. Following an escort mission to the Palaus from 5 to 11 January 1945, ''Vigilance'' returned to Ulithi on the 12th, only to find a full-scale antisubmarine alert in progress. She commenced patrolling station number 7 in company with before receiving orders to patrol off the Zowariyau and Piiriperiperi channels. Shifting to a retiring search in company with soon thereafter, ''Vigilance'' was relieved of this duty by and returned to Ulithi. After local patrol operations off the Mugai channel, ''Vigilance'' performed local escort missions between Ulithi and Kossol Roads and from Kossol Roads to Seeadler Harbor, at Manus, in the Admiralties. For the latter part of February, the minesweeper served as submarine listening watch and harbor entrance patrol vessel at Kossol before she returned to Ulithi. From 6 to 8 March, ''Vigilance'' lay alongside undergoing availability in preparation for the upcoming operation against the Ryūkyūs. ''Vigilance'' got underway for Nansei Shoto on 19 March and steamed in cruising formation with Mine Division (MinDiv) 11, on the starboard quarter of USS ''Terror''. Arriving in area V-l, about southwest of Okinawa, on 24 March, ''Vigilance'' and her sister minesweepers swept for moored mines until nightfall when they retired. She cut loose one moored mine on the 26th, three on the 27th, and one on the 28th. While performing these sweep operations, she served as MinRon 4 "destruction vessel", slated to destroy loose mines once they reached the surface. The ship sank several drifting floats and one moored mine with gunfire. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「USS Vigilance (AM-324)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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