Skip to main content

Naval History and Heritage Command
Tags
Related Content
Topic
  • DANFS (Dictionary of American Fighting Ships)
  • Minesweeper
Document Type
  • Ship History
Wars & Conflicts
  • World War II 1939-1945
Navy Communities
File Formats
  • Image (gif, jpg, tiff)
Location of Archival Materials
Author Name
Place of Event
Recipient Name

Agile I (AMc-111)

1941-1946

A general word classification.

I

(AMc-111: displacement 215; length 96'0"; beam 24'0"; draft 7'0”; speed 10.0 knots; armament  2 .50-caliber machine guns, 2 .30-caliber machine guns)

The first Agile (AMc-111), a wooden-hulled coastal minesweeper, was purchased by the Navy from Mr. John Breskovich of Tacoma, Wash., on 10 April 1941 while she was still under construction at Tacoma, Wash., by the Petersen Shipbuilding Co.; delivered to the Navy on 26 November 1941; and placed in service on 12 December 1941, Lt. (j.g.) John G. Turbitt, D-V(G), USNR, in charge.


Agile (AMc-111)
Caption: Port broadside view of Agile on the day she was placed in service, 12 December 1941. Note her identification number in white, forward, and that her paint scheme features a dividing line on her masts and boom, the lighter being above the darker. Also note Oropesa float (white object) on deck, and two covered .50-caliber water-cooled Browning machine guns mounted on the roof of the pilot house. (U.S. Navy Bureau of Ships Photograph BS 10132 National Archives and Records Administration, Still Pictures Branch, College Park, Md.)


Agile (AMc-111)
Caption: Starboard broadside view taken on 12 December 1941 shows the acoustic hammer folded back at the bow, to be employed ahead of the ship. What appears to be a YP-5-class district patrol vessel (former U.S. Coast Guard “Six Bitter” patrol boats) appears in the background in each view. (U.S. Navy Bureau of Ships Photograph BS 10131 National Archives and Records Administration, Still Pictures Branch, College Park, Md.)

Agile reported for duty with the Thirteenth Naval District Inshore Patrol on 23 December 1941, two days before the first Christmas of the war. Based at the Naval Station, Seattle, Wash., she patrolled the waters of Puget Sound until April of 1942 when she entered the yard for repairs and alterations. Agile completed repairs and returned to duty soon thereafter. In October 1943, she moved to Kodiak, Alaska, where she resumed patrols under the auspices of the Commander, Northwest Sea Frontier. After 15 April 1944, she was assigned to the newly established Alaskan Sea Frontier.

Agile returned to Seattle on 4 October 1944. She entered the yard at Winslow Marine Railway where her minesweeping gear was removed. On 20 December 1944, she reported to the Naval Air Station, Whidbey Island, and began duty loading and delivering torpedoes at bases along the coast of Washington. On 30 December 1944, she was re-designated IX-203. That duty kept her busy until she was placed out of service on 14 December 1945.

Stricken from the Navy Register on 8 January 1946, she was turned over to the Maritime Commission for disposal on 14 March 1946. Returned to fishing boat configuration by the Tacoma Boat Building Co., later in 1946, she was earmarked to be turned over to the Republic of China under the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA).

Raymond A. Mann

Updated, Robert J. Cressman

22 August 2022

hide
Published: Wed Aug 24 09:17:05 EDT 2022