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Competent (AM-316)

1943

A general word classification.

(AM-316: displacement 890; length 221'2"; beam 32'2"; draft 10'9"; s. 18 k.; cpl. 105; armament 1 3-inch; class Auk)

Intended to be transfetrred to Great Britain under Lend Lease, Amelia (BAM-3) was laid down on 19 August 1942 at Alameda, Calif., General Engineering & Dry Dock Co., launched on 30 January 1943; sponsored by Miss M. S. Upton; retained for use by the U.S. Navy; assigned the name Competent and reclassified as a minesweepere, AM-316, on 23 January 1943; and commissioned on 10 November 1943, Lt. David D. Long, Jr., USNR, in command.

Competent reached Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii, on 21 January 1944. Eight days later, she departed to escort the ammunition ship Sangay (AE-10) to Majuro, where Competent swept mines and acted as harbor entrance control and pilot ship from 5 February to 31 March. Returning to Pearl Harbor on 7 April she  escorted convoys to the Marshalls until 15 July.

Competent reached Port Purvis on 24 August 1944 for exercises in the Solomons until 8 September when she sailed to Kossol Passage to sweep and patrol the west entrance during the invasion of Peleliu. She escorted a convoy back to Port Purvis on 13 October, and on 2 November departed for a west coast overhaul.

On 8 April 1945 Competent cleared San Francisco with a convoy bound for Okinawa. From her arrival on 20 May she patrolled and screened the transports, then swept mines from 5 July to 25 August. During September she lay at Okinawa, then swept off Chusan Archipelago during October. She operated out of Sasebo on various duties in support of the occupation until 6 March 1946 when she cleared for San Francisco, arriving on 21 April. She operated on the west coast until placed out of commission in reserve on 30 January 1947.

Recommissioned 29 February 1952, Lt. Cmdr. Edward A. Grant commanding, as a result of the Korean war, Competent put to sea from Long Beach, Calif., on 7 July 1952 and arrived at Sasebo, Japan, on 7 August. From this port she swept and patrolled Korean waters until returning to Long Beach on 5 February 1953. During her second Far Eastern tour from 5 October 1953 to 2 June 1954, she patrolled with TF 95 off Korea to preserve the truce.

Reclassified as a minesweeper, steel hull, MSF-316, on 7 February 1955, Competent operated along the west coast until she was decommissioned and placed in reserve 15 April 1955.

Competent earned five battle stars for her World War II service and two for the Korean war.

Updated, Robert J. Cressman

31 May 2022

Published: Tue May 31 14:04:54 EDT 2022