History
United States
NameUSS Bond (AMc-129)
BuilderWillamette Iron and Steel Works, Portland, Oregon
ReclassifiedAM-152, 21 February 1942
Laid down11 April 1942
Launched21 October 1942
Commissioned30 August 1943
Decommissioned17 August 1945
FateTransferred to Soviet Navy, 17 August 1945
ReclassifiedMSF-152, 7 February 1955
Stricken1 January 1983
History
Soviet Union
NameT-285[1]
Acquired17 August 1945
Commissioned17 August 1945[2]
RenamedBRN-37, 11 July 1956
ReclassifiedAuxiliary vessel (BRN), 11 July 1956
Decommissioned18 January 1960
FateScrapped 1960[3]
General characteristics
Class and typeAdmirable-class minesweeper
Displacement650 tons
Length184 ft 6 in (56.24 m)
Beam33 ft (10 m)
Draft9 ft 9 in (2.97 m)
Propulsion
Speed14.8 knots (27.4 km/h)
Complement104
Armament
Service record
Part of:

USS Bond (AM-152) was an Admirable-class minesweeper 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, 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 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 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 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 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. She made stops at Pearl Harbor and at Eniwetok Atoll in the Marshall Islands before arriving at Saipan in the Mariana Islands 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.[4]

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 immediately. Also commissioned into the Soviet Navy immediately,[2] she was designated as a tralshik ("minesweeper") and renamed T-285[1] in Soviet service. She soon departed Cold Bay bound for Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky in the Soviet Union, where she served in the Soviet Far East.[4]

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 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 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.[5] 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.[3] Unaware of her fate, the U.S. Navy kept Bond on its Naval Vessel Register until finally striking her on 1 January 1983.

References

  1. 1 2 Hazegray.org Bond states that Bond was named T-593 in Soviet service, but more recent research in Russell, Richard A., Project Hula: Secret Soviet-American Cooperation in the War Against Japan, Washington, D.C.: Naval Historical Center, 1997, ISBN 0-945274-35-1, pp. 39–40, which includes access to Soviet-era records unavailable during the Cold War, finds that the ship's Soviet name was T-285, while an auxiliary motor minesweeper, the former USS YMS-38, also transferred in 1945, had the Soviet name T-593. As sources, Russell cites Department of the Navy, Ships Data: U.S. Naval Vessels Volume II, 1 January 1949, (NAVSHIPS 250-012), Washington, DC: Bureau of Ships, 1949; and Berezhnoi, S. S., Flot SSSR: Korabli i suda lendliza: Spravochnik ("The Soviet Navy: Lend-Lease Ships and Vessels: A Reference"), St. Petersburg, Russia: Belen, 1994. NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive Bond (MSF 152) ex-AM-152 ex-AMc-129 agrees with Russell that the ship's Soviet name was T-285.
  2. 1 2 According to Russell, Richard A., Project Hula: Secret Soviet-American Cooperation in the War Against Japan, Washington, D.C.: Naval Historical Center, 1997, ISBN 0-945274-35-1, which includes access to Soviet-era records unavailable during the Cold War, Project Hula ships were commissioned into the Soviet Navy simultaneously with their transfer from the U.S. Navy; see photo captions on p. 24 regarding the transfers of various large infantry landing craft (LCI(L)s) and information on p. 27 about the transfer of USS Coronado (PF-38), which Russell says typified the transfer process. As sources, Russell cites Department of the Navy, Ships Data: U.S. Naval Vessels Volume II, 1 January 1949, (NAVSHIPS 250-012), Washington, DC: Bureau of Ships, 1949; and Berezhnoi, S. S., Flot SSSR: Korabli i suda lendliza: Spravochnik ("The Soviet Navy: Lend-Lease Ships and Vessels: A Reference"), St. Petersburg, Russia: Belen, 1994.
  3. 1 2 hazegray.org Bond states that the ship, which it identifies in Soviet service as T-593, probably was scrapped in 1956, but more recent research in Russell, Richard A., Project Hula: Secret Soviet-American Cooperation in the War Against Japan, Washington, D.C.: Naval Historical Center, 1997, ISBN 0-945274-35-1, p. 39, reports that the ship's Soviet name was T-285 and states that T-285 was scrapped in 1960. As sources, Russell cites Department of the Navy, Ships Data: U.S. Naval Vessels Volume II, 1 January 1949, (NAVSHIPS 250-012), Washington, DC: Bureau of Ships, 1949; and Berezhnoi, S. S., Flot SSSR: Korabli i suda lendliza: Spravochnik ("The Soviet Navy: Lend-Lease Ships and Vessels: A Reference"), St. Petersburg, Russia: Belen, 1994. Russell, p. 40., also states that T-593 – a Soviet name previously attributed to Bond but now identified as belonging to the former USS YMS-38 – was scrapped in 1955, and this suggests that confusion over the identity of the two ships may have led to the confusion over their scrapping dates, although it does not explain why hazegray.org asserts a 1956 probably scrapping date for the ship.
  4. 1 2 Russell, Richard A., Project Hula: Secret Soviet-American Cooperation in the War Against Japan, Washington, D.C.: Naval Historical Center, 1997, ISBN 0-945274-35-1, p. 39.
  5. ↑ Russell, Richard A., Project Hula: Secret Soviet-American Cooperation in the War Against Japan, Washington, D.C.: Naval Historical Center, 1997, ISBN 0-945274-35-1, pp. 37–38, 39.
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