Astute (AM-148)
1944-1983
A general word classification.
(AM-148: displacement 650; 1ength 184'6"; beam 33'0"; draft 9'9"; speed 14.8 knots; complement 104; armament 1 3-inch, 2 40 millimeter (Army mounts), 6 20 millimeter, 2 .30 caliber machine guns, 2 depth charge projectors, 1 depth charge projector (hedgehog), 2 depth charge tracks; class Admirable)
Astute (AM-148) was laid down on 7 December 1942 at Tampa, Fla., by the Tampa Shipbuilding Co.; launched on 23 February 1943; sponsored by Mrs. M. L. Haney; and commissioned on 17 January 1944, Lt. Andrew E. Downing, D-V(G), USNR, in command.
Following shakedown training, Astute transited the Panama Canal and joined the Pacific Fleet. She proceeded up the Pacific coast and ultimately arrived in Alaskan waters where she served during the latter part of 1944 and the first half of 1945 conducting patrol and escort duty.
Astute was decommissioned at Cold Bay, Alaska, on 18 July 1945 under Project Hula and was transferred to the Soviet Union then following day under the terms of the lend-lease program. Astute, designated as a minesweeper [tralshik] served in the Soviet Navy as T-333. The Soviets never returned her to the United States Navy.
Reclassified MSF-148 on 7 February 1955, she was carried on the United States Navy register until her name was stricken on 1 January 1983. The Soviets had scrapped her in 1960, 23 years before.
Commanding Officer Date Assumed Command
Lt. Andrew E. Downing, D-V(G), USNR 17 January 1944
Raymond A. Mann
Updated 3 October 2017
