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Naval History and Heritage Command

Naval History and Heritage Command

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  • Mine Warfare
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  • Ship History
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Conquest II (AMc-71)

1942-1945

The name source for the first Conquest is not recorded, the name source for the second Conquest is that of a general word classification. 

II 

(AMc-71: displacement 200 (full load); length 97'0"; beam 21'0"; draft 9'0"; speed 10 knots; complement 15: armament 2 .50 caliber machine guns, 4 rifles, 1 Thompson submachine gun; class Acme)

The second Conquest (AMc-71) was laid down on 8 May 1941 at Pensacola, Fla., by the Warren Fish Co.; launched on 25 August 1941; sponsored by Mrs. Francis W. Taylor, wife of Lt. Cmdr. Francis W. Taylor, C-V(S), USNR; and delivered to Commandant, Naval Air Station, Pensacola, on 9 March 1942, being accepted and placed in service, at her building yard, the same day, Lt. (j.g.) Partee W. Crouch, officer-in-charge.

Departing Pensacola for Charleston, S.C., on 23 March 1942, Conquest paused at Key West, Fla., then cleared that port on 28 March and reached her destination on 1 April, reporting to the Commandant, Sixth Naval District. After fitting out at the Charleston Navy Yard (1-15 April), the new coastal minesweeper sailed for Yorktown, Va., on 26 April, making arrival on 1 May to begin training at the Mine Warfare School there. Proceeding thence to the Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Va., the ship underwent an availability there (21-29 May), then proceeded to Charleston for onward routing instructions.

Conquest sailed for Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on 9 June 1942, and proceeded there in company with the net tender Teak (YN-30), arriving at their destination on 24 June. The coastal minesweeper, assigned to the Caribbean Sea Frontier soon thereafter, reported to the Commandant, Tenth Naval District, for duty with the Inshore Patrol, to operate from the Section Base at St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. Reassigned to the Caribbean Sea Frontier base at San Juan, P.R., on 29 June 1944, Conquest operated in those waters for the duration of World War II.

Assigned to the Commandant, Sixth Naval District, for disposition, on 27 June 1945, Conquest made arrival at the Naval Frontier Base, Charleston, on 7 September 1945. She was placed out of service in the Wando River on 4 December and laid up in reserve under the auspices of the Commandant, U.S. Naval Base, Charleston. Declared surplus, and “not essential to [the] defense of the U.S.,” the following day [5 December], the ship was authorized for delivery to the Maritime Commission’s War Shipping Administration (WSA) when requested by that agency for disposal.

Stricken from the Navy Register on 19 December 1945, ex-Conquest was accepted by the WSA on 9 August 1946 and physically delivered to the Gorton-Pew Fisheries Co., Ltd., of Gloucester, Mass., the same day.

Robert J. Cressman

21 August 2017  

Published: Sun Aug 20 16:04:34 EDT 2017