- Yes
- No
-Quick Background-
USS Terror (CM-5) was a fleet minelayer of the United States Navy, the only minelayer of the fleet built specifically for and retained for minelaying during World War II (two sister ships, the Catskill and the Ozark, were converted into LSVs [Landing Ship, Vehicle] before commissioning).
She was laid down on 3 September 1940 by the Philadelphia Navy Yard; launched on 6 June 1941; sponsored by Mrs. Ralph A. Bard; and commissioned on 15 July 1942.
-History-
Spoiler
Her first combat deployment was to support Operation Torch in North Africa. On November 2-14 she sailed with Task Group 38.3 to Casablanca Harbor and after arriving, laid a 7 mile long field on the 16th to protect the recently captured harbor from subs. Once she was done, she departed back to the United States the next day on the 17th, arriving in Yorktown on the 30th for refit and overhaul.
From Dec of 42’ to May 43’ she stayed around the Chesapeake, training and participating in tactical exercises. However on October 2nd, she left to meet up with Task Unit 29.25, arriving in San Francisco on October 19th, and leaving for Pearl Harbor the next day.
Terror arrived at Funafuti on 9 November 1943, supporting small boat minelaying and firing her guns in anger for the first time on the 17th when the Japanese sent an air raid. In the following months she conducted minlaying in Tarawa, Makin Island and Ulithi, returning to Hawaii each time to rearm and refuel.
She went on to support Minlaying operations for the Iowa Jima and Okinawa campaigns as well, along with providing support in Kerama-retto. However, on May 1st, 1945, Terror was hit by a Kamikaze, killing 41 and wounding 123. She had to return to San Francisco for repairs, only heading back to the pacific on august 15th. She survived two typhoons in the closing days of the war and upon Japan’s surrender, headed home. She participated in fleet exercises until Inactivation in October 1947, eventually meeting the scrapper in 1971.
| General Information | |
|---|---|
| Displacement | 5,875 long tons (5,969 t) |
| Length | 454 ft 10 in (138.63 m) |
| Beam | 60 ft 2 in (18.34 m) |
| Draft | 19 ft 7 in (5.97 m) |
| Speed | 25.3 knots (46.9 km/h) |
| Complement | 481 |
| Weapons | |
|---|---|
| 4 × 5"/38 caliber guns | |
| 4 × quad 1.1"/75 caliber guns (replaced by 4 × quad 40 mm guns in May 1943) | |
| 14 x 20mm Oerlikon | |
| 900 x Seamines (600 assembled, 300 ready to assemble) |
Moar Pics
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Conclusion
With the addition of HMS Abdiel and IJN Tsugaru, I feel like the US Is due for a similar ship, and I think she’d fit right at home in tier I or II of the Bluewater line, perhaps after the USS Barker.
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