USS Vital (AM-129)

USS "Vital" (AM-129) was an "Auk"-class minesweeper acquired by the U.S. Navy for the dangerous task of removing mines from minefields laid in the water to prevent ships from passing.

Vital was laid down on 1 January 1942 at Chickasaw, Alabama, by the Gulf Shipbuilding Corp.; launched on 7 September 1942; sponsored by Miss E. Herrmann; and completed on 18 May 1943.

Lend-lease of USS "Vital" to the U.K.

Turned over to the Royal Navy under provisions of the lend-lease agreement, "Vital" was renamed "HMS Strenuous" and subsequently served in the Royal Navy for the duration of World War II.

"Vital" returned to the U.S. Navy

Returned to the United States Government after the war, on 10 December 1946, the ship resumed her former classification, AM-129, but not her former name. She was carried on the Naval Vessel Register as USS "Strenuous" (AM-129), and in the 1 January 1947 edition of the Naval Vessel Register as merely AM-129.

Disposition

She was declared surplus on 23 April 1947 and sold by the State Department's Foreign Liquidation Commission to a foreign purchaser. She served in the merchant service until she was broken up for scrap in Germany in July 1956.

References

See also

* List of United States Navy ships
* Auk class minesweeper
* Lend-Lease
* World War II
* Minesweeper (ship)
* Minesweeping

External links

* [http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/#Anchor-Editoria-14954 Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships]