(ACM-5: dp. 1,320 (f.); l.188'2"; b. 37'0"; dr. 12'6" (mean) (f.); s. 12.5 k.; cpl. 69; a. 1 40mm.; cl. Chimo)
An outer defensive work in a fortress or a fortified town, usually in the form of a tower located at a gate or a bridge.
Barbican (ACM-51) constructed by the Marietta Manufacturing Co. at Point Pleasant, W. Va., for the Army as the mine planter Col. George Armistead was acquired by the Navy from the Army Coast Artillery at Charleston, S.C., on 6 January 1945; renamed Barbican and designated an auxiliary minelayer, ACM-5, on 19 January 1945; converted for naval service by the Charleston (S.C.) Navy Yard; and placed in commission there on 24 March 1945, Lt. Comdr. Alexander Anderson, Jr., in command.
Following shakedown training out of Charleston between 31 March and 24 April, Barbican arrived in the Pacific late in the summer of 1945 too late to participate in the war against Japan. In fact, Barbican did not depart Pear1 Harbor and head for the western Pacific until 17 August, two days after the Japanese capitulation ended hostilities. On her way west, the auxiliary minelayer made one stop at Midway Island before arriving at Saipan in the Marianas on 20 September. There, she reported for duty with the Commander, Minecraft, Pacific Fleet. For a little more than a month, she served as tender and flagship for a squadron of motor minesweepers (YMS), performing those duties both at Saipan and at Okinawa. Late in October, the ship moved from Okinawa to Sasebo, Japan, where she took part in the postwar occupation of Japan. That assignment lasted unti1 24 February 1946, when she headed back to the United States. She reported to the Commandant, 12th Naval District, late in April 1946 for duty pending inactivation. Barbican was placed out of commission at San Francisco on 12 June 1946 and was transferred simultaneously to the Coast Guard. Her name was struck from the Navy list on 19 July 1946.
Raymond A. Mann
7 March 2006
