USS ''Marabout'' (AMc-50) was an ''Accentor''-class

coastal minesweeper Coastal minesweeper is a term used by the United States Navy to indicate a minesweeper intended for coastal use as opposed to participating in fleet operations at sea. Because of its small size—usually less than 100 feet in length—and construct ...

acquired by the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

for the dangerous task of removing mines from minefields laid in the water to prevent ships from passing. ''Marabout'' was laid down 20 December 1940 by the Herreshoff Mfg. Co.,

Bristol, Rhode Island Bristol is a town in Bristol County, Rhode Island, US as well as the historic county seat. The town is built on the traditional territories of the Pokanoket Wampanoag. It is a deep water seaport named after Bristol, England. The population of ...

; launched 17 February 1941; sponsored by Mrs. R. F. Haffenreffer; and commissioned 8 July 1941.

World War II service

Following shakedown off the mid Atlantic seaboard, ''Marabout'' was assigned to the

1st Naval District The naval district was a U.S. Navy military and administrative command ashore. Apart from Naval District Washington, the Districts were disestablished and renamed Navy Regions about 1999, and are now under Commander, Naval Installations Command ...

at Boston, Massachusetts. On 9 December, two days after the United States entered

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, she sailed for

Bermuda ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = National song , song = "Hail to Bermuda" , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , mapsize2 = , map_caption2 = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = , es ...

to help combat German

U-boats U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare rol ...

in the western

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

German subs plant mines on U.S. East Coast

In May 1942, the U-boats began laying mines off the Atlantic coasts. Starting 14 May at

St. John's, Newfoundland St. John's is the capital and largest city of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, located on the eastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula on the island of Newfoundland. The city spans and is the easternmost city in North America ...

, these activities threatened merchantmen as far as

St. Lucia Saint Lucia ( acf, Sent Lisi, french: Sainte-Lucie) is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean. The island was previously called Iouanalao and later Hewanorra, names given by the native Arawaks and Caribs, two Amerin ...

in the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...

. ''Marabout'', a

, had the mission of ensuring safe passage to Allied shipping through the entrances of the ports.

Reassigned to the 5th Naval District

On 13 June, ''Marabout'' was assigned to the

5th Naval District The naval district was a U.S. Navy military and administrative command ashore. Apart from Naval District Washington, the Districts were disestablished and renamed Navy Regions about 1999, and are now under Commander, Naval Installations Command ...

, where mines laid by , 12 June, sank a tanker, a trawler, and a coal barge; and damaged another tanker and destroyer . Joining

ServRon A Service Squadron (ServRon) was a United States Navy squadron that supported fleet combat ships and US Navy Auxiliary ships. Service Squadrons were used by the US Navy from their inception in 1943 to as late as the early 1980s. At the time of t ...

5 in the fall, she supported units of the Fleet Operation Training Command, in particular task group TG 23.1, until ordered to

New London, Connecticut New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States, located at the mouth of the Thames River in New London County, Connecticut. It was one of the world's three busiest whaling ports for several decade ...

, 7 November 1944, for duty under ComSubLant. There, for the next year and a half, she performed widely varied duties including

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, we ...

jamming and

sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigate, measure distances (ranging), communicate with or detect objects on o ...

operations with other Naval and Coast Guard units in the area and at the Submarine School.

Deactivation

On 16 May 1946, she steamed for Boston, where she decommissioned on 29 May. Transferred to the

Maritime Commission The United States Maritime Commission (MARCOM) was an independent executive agency of the U.S. federal government that was created by the Merchant Marine Act of 1936, which was passed by Congress on June 29, 1936, and was abolished on May 24, 195 ...

for disposal, she was sold to the City of Boston, 31 July for service as a

fireboat A fireboat or fire-float is a specialized watercraft with pumps and nozzles designed for fighting shoreline and shipboard fires. The first fireboats, dating to the late 18th century, were tugboats, retrofitted with firefighting equipme ...

References

External links

Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marabout 1941 ships Accentor-class minesweepers Ships built in Bristol, Rhode Island World War II minesweepers of the United States