USS ''Ampere'' (PCE-919/AM-359/YDG-11/ADG-11) was originally planned as a for the United States Navy, ''PCE-919'', and laid down as an , named ''Drake'', for the male duck. Before she was commissioned, her name was cancelled and she was reclassified as a

District Degaussing Vessel A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...

. She was later renamed ''Ampere'', after the

ampere The ampere (, ; symbol: A), often shortened to amp,SI supports only the use of symbols and deprecates the use of abbreviations for units. is the unit of electric current in the International System of Units (SI). One ampere is equal to elect ...

, a unit of

electric current An electric current is a stream of charged particles, such as electrons or ions, moving through an electrical conductor or space. It is measured as the net rate of flow of electric charge through a surface or into a control volume. The moving pa ...

, which takes its name from the French physicist

André-Marie Ampère André-Marie Ampère (, ; ; 20 January 177510 June 1836) was a French physicist and mathematician who was one of the founders of the science of classical electromagnetism, which he referred to as "electrodynamics". He is also the inventor of nu ...

Design

''Ampere'' was long, wide, had a draft of , and displaced . She had an average speed of . She had a complement of 68 men, and was armed only with a /50 caliber dual-purpose (DP) gun. She was propelled by two

Busch-Sulzer The Busch-Sulzer Bros. Diesel Engine Company was founded by Adolphus Busch of the Anheuser-Busch brewing company in 1911 as a joint venture with Sulzer Brothers of Switzerland. The company manufactured diesel engines until 1946. In 1897, Adolphu ...

539 diesel engines, which produced a total , and had a

Farrel-Birmingham The Farrel Corporation is an American manufacturing company based in Ansonia, Connecticut. Today, they manufacture process equipment for the plastics industry, and employ roughly 100 people. History Farrel was founded in 1848 as a foundry by A ...

single reduction gear alongside two

propeller A propeller (colloquially often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon ...

Construction

''Drake'' was laid down on 24 November 1943, at Portland, Oregon by the Willamette Iron and Steel Works, and launched on 12 August 1944. On 20 April 1945, her name was canceled, and she was re-designated as a degaussing vessel, ''YDG-11''. The ship was placed in service on 15 August 1945, the day after the Japanese surrender.

Service history

Due to the cessation of hostilities, ''YDG-11'' saw little or no active service before being berthed with the

Pacific Reserve Fleet The United States Navy maintains a number of its ships as part of a reserve fleet, often called the "Mothball Fleet". While the details of the maintenance activity have changed several times, the basics are constant: keep the ships afloat and ...

at San Diego, California. She was retained on an inactive, in service, status until the winter of 1946 and 1947, when she was placed out of service, in reserve. On 1 November 1947 she was re-designated ''ADG-11''. The ship remained inactive until July 1951, when she was again placed in service. Assigned to the Far East, ''ADG-11'' was based at Yokosuka, Japan until sometime in 1954. After that, her home port was

Sasebo, Japan is a core city located in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. It is also the second largest city in Nagasaki Prefecture, after its capital, Nagasaki. On 1 June 2019, the city had an estimated population of 247,739 and a population density of 581 persons p ...

. On 1 February 1955, she was renamed ''Ampere''. The ship was placed out of service in February 1957. Her equipment was transferred to '' USS Surfbird'', a minesweeping vessel which was redesignated a degaussing ship on 15 June 1957. She remained in reserve in the Far East until the summer of 1961, when the decision was made to dispose of her. Her name was struck from the

Naval Register A Navy Directory, formerly the 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 author ...

on 1 July 1961, and she was sold on 21 June 1962, to the Philippine President Lines of Manila. Her final disposition is unknown.

Notes

Bibliography

* *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ampere (Adg-11) PCE-905-class patrol craft Admirable-class minesweepers Ships built in Portland, Oregon 1944 ships World War II patrol vessels of the United States World War II minesweepers of the United States Degaussing ships of the United States Navy