Intrigue (AM-253)
1944-1962
A general word classification.
(AM-253: displacement 530; length 184'6"; beam 33'0"; draft 9'9"; speed 15 knots; complement 104; armament 1 3-inch, 4 40-millimeter, 6 20-millimeter, 1 depth charge projector (Hedgehog), 4 depth charge projectors, 2 depth charge tracks; class. Admirable)
Intrigue (AM-253) was laid down 17 December 1943 at Savannah, Georgia, by the Savannah Machine & Foundry Co.,; launched 8 April 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Henry R. Keller; and commissioned on 31 July 1944, Lt. Paul F. McLaughlin, USNR, in command.
Following exhaustive shakedown in Chesapeake Bay, Intrigue departed Norfolk on 28 September 1944 for coastal convoy duty. She 'sailed with cargo ships from American ports to the Canal Zone and as far north as Argentia, Newfoundland, before returning to Norfolk on 5 December 1944.
In January 1945 Intrigue served as a target-towing vessel off the coast, and in June Intrigue sailed to Miami to train student officers on the Florida coast. She arrived on 23 September at Yorktown, Va., to act as training ship at the Mine Warfare School, and decommissioned 31 May 1946.
Intrigue subsequently joined the Atlantic Reserve Fleet at Orange, Tex., and, while inactive, was reclassified as a minesweeper (steel hull), MSF-253, on 7 February 1955. Stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 April 1962, the vessel was sold to the government of Mexico on 30 August 1962 and served as DM-17 (E-7).
Updated, Robert J. Cressman
29 June 2022
