(AM-287: displacement 625; length 184-6-; beam 33-; draft 9-9-; speed 15 knots; complement 104; armament 1 3-, 2 40mm., 6 20mm., 2 machine guns, 1 depth charge projector, 2 depth charge tracks; class Admirable)
To make fresh by cooling, airing, or wetting down.
Refresh (AM-287), a minesweeper, was laid down 22 September 1943 by General Engineering & Dry Dock Co., Alameda, Calif.; launched 12 April 1944; sponsored by Miss Muriel Maddox of San Francisco; and commissioned 10 April 1945, Lt. W. L. Turner in command.
Following a Pacific coast shakedown out of San Pedro, Calif., Refresh reported to Commander in Chief, Pacific for duty, 9 June 1945. After a call at Pearl Harbor, she departed 1 July for Okinawa via Eniwetok and Guam. Arriving Buckner Bay 31 July, she joined Commander, Mine Squadron 15 and began minesweeping operations in the Okinawa area 13 August. The last week of August she swept the approaches to Jinsen, Korea, and operated in the Yellow Sea through 7 September.
During the remainder of September, Refresh assisted TG 52.3 in minesweeping operations in the East China Sea approaches to Nagasaki and Sasebo, Japan, and in the Goto Archipelago, primarily in the area of Fukae, southwest of Kyushu.
Arriving Sasebo 1 October, Refresh was assigned several hydrographic missions, conducting soundings in shoalwaters southwest of Kagoshima, Kyushu, Japan. After upkeep in Sasebo, she continued to operate in Japanese waters through the new year.
Calling at Pearl Harbor 8-26 March 1946, Refresh then proceeded to San Pedro, Calif., arriving 4 April. Designated for transfer to the Chinese Navy 29 April 1946, she sailed for Subic Bay, Philippine Islands 17 September, decommissioned there 9 November 1946, was delivered to the Chinese 30 June 1948, and struck from the Navy list 13 July 1948. She serves in the Navy of the Republic of China as Yung Chang.
Refresh received two battle stars for World War II service.
23 September 2005
