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Naval History and Heritage Command

Naval History and Heritage Command

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  • Boats-Ships--Submarine
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  • Ship History
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Barcelo II (AMb-17)

(AMb 17: dp. 110; l. 84'3" (reg.); b. 2I'17" (reg.); dr. 10'; s. 10 k.; a. 2 3 pdrs., 2 .30 cal. mg.)

A Spanish sea captain, Don Antonio Barcelo (1717-1797), who gained fame fighting Moorish pirates in the Mediterranean.

II

Raymonde a diesel powered motorboat built in 1929 at Essex, Mass., by the Storey Shipbuilding Corp. was acquired by the Navy on 14 January 1942 from a Miss Adams, of Gloucester, Mass.; designated a base minesweeper AMb-l7; converted for naval service at Quincy, Mass., by the Quincy Dry Dock & Yacht Corp.; and placed in service at the Section Base, Boston, on 18 April 1942.

Assigned initially to the 1st Naval District, she operated in the Boston area through the summer of 1942. On 1 May 1942, she was redesignated a district patrol craft and became YP-375. Late in August, she received orders to duty in the National Capital and arrived at the Washington Navy Yard on 15 September 1942. In October, she made a round trip voyage to New London, Conn., for some unspecified temporary duty at the submarine base. Upon her return to the Potomac, YP-375 took up duty conducting minesweeping tests. That assignment lasted until 24 February 1943 when she sailed for Norfolk. From there, she continued on to Charleston, S.C., where she resumed minesweeping tests that took her as far south as Mayport, Fla. She returned to Norfolk at the end of March 1943. In April, she voyaged north to New York and the New England coast. Late that month, YP-375 sailed south to Port Everglades, Fla. Early in June, she returned to Norfolk where she underwent an availability until the 20th. In July, the motorboat sailed to the Section Base, Cape May, N.J., for about two months of unspecified experimental operations before returning to Norfolk.

On 2 October 1943, YP-375 received orders reassigning her to the 3d Naval District. She operated from Tompkinsville, N.Y., for the remainder of her Navy career, often carrying out special missions and temporary duty at various Atlantic coast locations outside her district. Her duty at those locations consisted of locating and retrieving lost ordnance—primarily mines and torpedoes. On 15 December 1944, she was redesignated IX-l99 and, four days later, received the name Barcelo. Following the end of World War II, Barcelo (IX-199) was placed out of service on 23 October 1945, and she was transferred to the Maritime Commission for disposal on 29 March 1946.

Raymond A. Mann

7 March 2006

Published: Tue Jun 23 07:40:38 EDT 2015