USS Skylark (AM-63) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

USS Skylark (AM-63) was an built for the United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. She earned three battle stars during World War II. Skylark was mined and sunk off Okinawa in April 1945. She was struck from the Naval Vessel Register

Naval Vessel Register

The Naval Vessel Register is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from the time a vessel is authorized through its life cycle and...

the same day.

Career

Skylark was laid down on 9 July 1941 by the General Engineering & Dry Dock Company

General Engineering & Dry Dock Company

General Engineering & Dry Dock Company was a shipbuilding company in Alameda, California that was active from the 1920s through the 1940s. Relatively little is known about the history of the shipyard, but the company built ships for the Southern Pacific Railroad and the United States Coast Guard in...

of Alameda, California

Alameda, California

Alameda is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. It is located on Alameda Island and Bay Farm Island, and is adjacent to Oakland in the San Francisco Bay. The Bay Farm Island portion of the city is adjacent to the Oakland International Airport. At the 2010 census, the city had a...

; launched on 12 March 1942; sponsored by Mrs. William L. Simpson; and commissioned on 25 November 1942.

After almost a month of trials, calibrations, and training along the coast of California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, Skylark got underway for Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...

, Hawaii

Hawaii

Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

, on the morning of 20 December. The convoy

Convoy

A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support, though it may also be used in a non-military sense, for example when driving through remote areas.-Age of Sail:Naval...

arrived in Pearl Harbor ten days later, and Skylark remained in the Islands for another eleven days. On 10 January 1943, she stood out of Pearl Harbor and set course for Espiritu Santo

Espiritu Santo

Espiritu Santo is the largest island in the nation of Vanuatu, with an area of . It belongs to the archipelago of the New Hebrides in the Pacific region of Melanesia. It is in the Sanma Province of Vanuatu....

in the New Hebrides

New Hebrides

New Hebrides was the colonial name for an island group in the South Pacific that now forms the nation of Vanuatu. The New Hebrides were colonized by both the British and French in the 18th century shortly after Captain James Cook visited the islands...

, escorting another convoy

Convoy

. For the next year, Skylark escorted convoys around the various island groups in the South Pacific

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...

, the New Hebrides, Samoa

Samoa

Samoa , officially the Independent State of Samoa, formerly known as Western Samoa is a country encompassing the western part of the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. It became independent from New Zealand in 1962. The two main islands of Samoa are Upolu and one of the biggest islands in...

, New Caledonia

New Caledonia

New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...

, and the Solomons

Solomon Islands

Solomon Islands is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of . The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal...

, the conquest of which she was supporting. Often she shepherded supply echelons to Guadalcanal

Guadalcanal

Guadalcanal is a tropical island in the South-Western Pacific. The largest island in the Solomons, it was discovered by the Spanish expedition of Alvaro de Mendaña in 1568...

and to some of the other islands in the group, then would patrol the area for a week or two.

Of all the months of that year, June 1943 was her most active. On the 16th, while she was screening ships off Guadalcanal, she came under aerial attack by Japanese

Empire of Japan

The Empire of Japan is the name of the state of Japan that existed from the Meiji Restoration on 3 January 1868 to the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of...

dive bombers and assisted in splashing four of the intruders. A week later, on 23 June, two ships of her convoy, and were torpedoed by a Japanese submarine

Submarine

A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...

, . Skylark succeeded in rescuing 193 survivors and carried them on to Espiritu Santo

Espiritu Santo

.

In January 1944, the minesweeper began an extended period of convoy

Convoy

-escort and patrol duty in the Solomons. Until 15 April, her theater of operations was restricted to those islands alone as she herded the supply echelons between them. On 15 April, she departed the Solomons for Espiritu Santo, arriving there the next day. On 7 May, she began her return voyage to the Solomons; and, two days later, she put into Purvis Bay

Purvis Bay

Purvis Bay is located in the Florida Islands, which are part of the Solomon Islands. The bay was used by the US Navy during World War Two....

, Florida Island, for repairs. Repairs and minesweeping exercises occupied her time until 3 June, when she sailed from Purvis Bay with elements of Task Force

Task force

A task force is a unit or formation established to work on a single defined task or activity. Originally introduced by the United States Navy, the term has now caught on for general usage and is a standard part of NATO terminology...

53, bound for Kwajalein

Kwajalein

Kwajalein Atoll , is part of the Republic of the Marshall Islands . The southernmost and largest island in the atoll is named Kwajalein Island. English-speaking residents of the U.S...

Atoll

An atoll is a coral island that encircles a lagoon partially or completely.- Usage :The word atoll comes from the Dhivehi word atholhu OED...

in the Marshalls

Marshall Islands

The Republic of the Marshall Islands , , is a Micronesian nation of atolls and islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, just west of the International Date Line and just north of the Equator. As of July 2011 the population was 67,182...

. The various elements of the task force

Task force

rendezvoused at Kwajalein on the 8th, refueled, and departed on the 12th.

The Southern Attack Force, otherwise known as task force TF 53, was assigned the job of retaking Guam

Guam

Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...

during the Marianas

Mariana Islands

The Mariana Islands are an arc-shaped archipelago made up by the summits of 15 volcanic mountains in the north-western Pacific Ocean between the 12th and 21st parallels north and along the 145th meridian east...

operation. Originally, the Guam assault was to have come several days after that upon Saipan

Saipan

Saipan is the largest island of the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands , a chain of 15 tropical islands belonging to the Marianas archipelago in the western Pacific Ocean with a total area of . The 2000 census population was 62,392...

. However, the necessity of meeting and defeating the Japanese fleet in what was to be the Battle of the Philippine Sea

Battle of the Philippine Sea

The Battle of the Philippine Sea was a decisive naval battle of World War II which effectively eliminated the Imperial Japanese Navy's ability to conduct large-scale carrier actions. It took place during the United States' amphibious invasion of the Mariana Islands during the Pacific War...

and the determination that additional troops would be needed to conquer Guam caused the assault to be delayed. Thus, TF 53 steamed around in the ocean 150 to 300 miles east of Saipan until 25 June when Admiral Spruance ordered the bulk of it to Eniwetok to await the lifting of additional forces from Hawaii

Hawaii

. Skylark arrived in Eniwetok Lagoon three days later.

She remained at Eniwetok until 17 July at which time the task force

Task force

departed for Guam. Arriving off Apra Harbor

Apra Harbor

Apra Harbor is a deep-water port on the western side of Guam in the Mariana Islands. The harbor is formed by Orote Peninsula in the south and Cabras Island in the north. To the south, the harbor narrows and then widens again to form an inner harbor. The southern end of the harbor is the location...

on the 21st, Skylark took up her screening station and, for almost two months, screened ships and patrolled in the vicinity of Apra. On 9 September, Skylark ceased patrolling and screening and departed Guam in the escort of an Eniwetok-bound convoy. She arrived on the 14th and entered an availability period until 3 October. From Eniwetok, she moved to Ulithi

Ulithi

Ulithi is an atoll in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, about 191 km east of Yap. It consists of 40 islets totalling , surrounding a lagoon about long and up to wide—at one of the largest in the world. It is administered by the state of Yap in the Federated States of...

, arriving on 9 October and departing again on the 17th to escort back to Eniwetok. The two ships made Eniwetok on 23 October, and Skylark departed the next day. After a two-day layover at Majuro

Majuro

Majuro , is a large coral atoll of 64 islands in the Pacific Ocean, and forms a legislative district of the Ratak Chain of the Marshall Islands. The atoll itself has a land area of and encloses a lagoon of...

, 26 to 28 October, she headed for Pearl Harbor. From Pearl Harbor, she continued on to California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, where she underwent repairs at both the Stockton Ship Works at Stockton, California

Stockton, California

Stockton, California, the seat of San Joaquin County, is the fourth-largest city in the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. With a population of 291,707 at the 2010 census, Stockton ranks as this state's 13th largest city...

, and General Engineering & Dry Dock Co., at Alameda, California

Alameda, California

.

On 15 February 1945, Skylark pointed her bow westward again and sailed out of Alameda, California

Alameda, California

. She entered Pearl Harbor on 22 February, provisioned on the 23rd, and headed back to Eniwetok on the 24th. A month later, Skylark was with the other minesweepers clearing the invasion areas around Okinawa.

At 10:55 on 28 March, while sweeping a minefield off the Hagushi

Hagushi

Hagushi bay was the primary unloading point for American supplies during the invasion of Okinawa during World War II. The bay, at the mouth of the Bishi River , was the dividing line between the First and Sixth US Marine divisions, which landed on the Hagushi beaches to the north, and the Seventh...

beaches, she struck a mine on her port side amidships. Skylark drifted while the crew fought fires and tried to save her. Twenty minutes later, she struck a second mine, took a heavy list, and sank within fifteen minutes. Five men were killed by the two explosions and, thanks to the rescue work of , these were her only losses.

Skylark was struck from the Navy list

Navy List

A 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 authorities of a country....

on 28 April 1945. Skylark (AM-63) earned three battle stars for World War II

World War II

service.

External links

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