USS Bond (AM-152)
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USS ''Bond'' (AM-152) was an built for the United States Navy during World War II and in commission from 1943 to 1945. In 1945, she was transferred to the Soviet Union and served after that in the Soviet Navy as ''T-285'' and as ''BRN-37''.


Construction and commissioning

originally classified as a "coastal minesweeper," AMc-129, ''Bond'' was reclassified as a "minesweeper," AM-152, on 21 February 1942. She was laid down on 11 April 1942 at
Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...
, Oregon, by the Willamette Iron and Steel Works, launched on 21 October 1942, and commissioned on 30 August 1943.


Service history


U.S. Navy, World War II, 1943–1945

Following
shakedown Shakedown may refer to: * Shakedown (continuum mechanics), a type of plastic deformation * Shakedown (testing) or a shakedown cruise, a period of testing undergone by a ship, airplane or other craft before being declared operational * Extortion, ...
training, ''Bond'' engaged in patrols out of San Pedro, California, from 2 October to 20 November 1943. On the latter day, she got underway for the
Hawaiian Islands The Hawaiian Islands ( haw, Nā Mokupuni o Hawai‘i) are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kur ...
and arrived at Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii, on 30 November 1943. She remained there until 7 December 1943, when she shaped a course for the Territory of Alaska. She arrived at
Adak Adak may refer to: Places *Adak Island, one of the Aleutian Islands ** Adak, Alaska, a town on the above island ** Adak Airport, airport serving the town ***Adak Army Airfield, original name of the airport (1942–c.1943) *** Davis Army Airfield, ...
in the Aleutian Islands on 13 December 1943 and began patrols and escort duty. Over the next six months, her assignment took her to Attu, Kiska, Dutch Harbor, and
Amchitka Amchitka (; ale, Amchixtax̂; russian: Амчитка) is a volcanic, tectonically unstable and uninhabited island in the Rat Islands group of the Aleutian Islands in southwest Alaska. It is part of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refu ...
as well as Adak. ''Bond'' departed Dutch Harbor for San Francisco, California, early in the summer of 1944. Following repairs at San Francisco, ''Bond'' put to sea on 8 August 1944, bound for the
Mariana Islands The Mariana Islands (; also the Marianas; in Chamorro: ''Manislan Mariånas'') are a crescent-shaped archipelago comprising the summits of fifteen longitudinally oriented, mostly dormant volcanic mountains in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, betw ...
. She made stops at Pearl Harbor and at Eniwetok Atoll in the Marshall Islands before arriving at
Saipan Saipan ( ch, Sa’ipan, cal, Seipél, formerly in es, Saipán, and in ja, 彩帆島, Saipan-tō) is the largest island of the Northern Mariana Islands, a Commonwealth (U.S. insular area), commonwealth of the United States in the western Pa ...
in the
Mariana Islands The Mariana Islands (; also the Marianas; in Chamorro: ''Manislan Mariånas'') are a crescent-shaped archipelago comprising the summits of fifteen longitudinally oriented, mostly dormant volcanic mountains in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, betw ...
on 2 September 1944. For the next seven months, ''Bond'' patrolled in the vicinity of Saipan and escorted convoys between Saipan, Ulithi, Guam, and Eniwetok. She left Saipan on 25 April 1945 and, after steaming via Eniwetok and Pearl Harbor, arrived at Portland, Oregon, on 22 May 1945. Selected for transfer to the Soviet Navy in Project Hula – a secret program for the transfer of U.S. Navy ships to the Soviet Navy at Cold Bay, Alaska, in anticipation of the Soviet Union joining the war against Japan – Bond underwent pre-transfer repairs at Portland and at Seattle, Washington, before moving north to Cold Bay in the summer of 1945 to begin familiarization training for her new Soviet crew.Russell, Richard A., ''Project Hula: Secret Soviet-American Cooperation in the War Against Japan'', Washington, D.C.: Naval Historical Center, 1997, , p. 39.


Soviet Navy, 1945–1960

Following the completion of training for her Soviet crew, ''Bond'' was decommissioned on 17 August 1945 at Cold Bay and transferred to the Soviet Union under
Lend-Lease Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (), was a policy under which the United States supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and other Allied nations with food, oil, ...
immediately. Also commissioned into the Soviet Navy immediately, she was designated as a ' ("minesweeper") and renamed ''T-285'' in Soviet service. She soon departed Cold Bay bound for Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky in the Soviet Union, where she served in the Soviet Far East. In February 1946, the United States began negotiations for the return of ships loaned to the Soviet Union for use during World War II, and on 8 May 1947, United States Secretary of the Navy
James V. Forrestal James Vincent Forrestal (February 15, 1892 – May 22, 1949) was the last Cabinet-level United States Secretary of the Navy and the first United States Secretary of Defense. Forrestal came from a very strict middle-class Irish Catholic fami ...
informed the United States Department of State that the United States Department of the Navy wanted 480 of the 585 combatant ships it had transferred to the Soviet Union for World War II use returned. Deteriorating relations between the two countries as the
Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
broke out led to protracted negotiations over the ships, and by the mid-1950s the U.S. Navy found it too expensive to bring home ships that had become worthless to it anyway. Many ex-American ships were merely administratively "returned" to the United States and instead sold for scrap in the Soviet Union, while the U.S. Navy did not seriously pursue the return of others because it viewed them as no longer worth the cost of recovery.Russell, Richard A., ''Project Hula: Secret Soviet-American Cooperation in the War Against Japan'', Washington, D.C.: Naval Historical Center, 1997, , pp. 37–38, 39. The Soviet Union never returned ''Bond'' to the United States, although the U.S. Navy reclassified her as a "fleet minesweeper" (MSF) and redesignated her MSF-152 on 7 February 1955. The Soviet Navy, meanwhile, reclassified the ship as an "auxiliary vessel" (BRN) on 11 July 1956 and renamed her ''BRN-37'' the same day.


Disposal

The Soviet Navy decommissioned ''BRN-37'' 18 January 1960 and sold her for scrapping that year. Unaware of her fate, the U.S. Navy kept ''Bond'' on its Naval Vessel Register until finally striking her on 1 January 1983.


References

*


External links


NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive – Bond (MSF 152) – ex-AM-152 – ex-AMc-129
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bond (AM-152) Admirable-class minesweepers Ships built in Portland, Oregon 1942 ships World War II minesweepers of the United States Admirable-class minesweepers of the Soviet Navy World War II minesweepers of the Soviet Union Cold War minesweepers of the Soviet Union Ships transferred under Project Hula