- USS Mirth (AM-265)
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"Mirth" redirects here. For other uses, see Mirth (disambiguation).
Career (United States) 
Name: USS Mirth (AM-265) Builder: American Ship Building Company Laid down: 31 July 1943 Launched: 24 December 1943 Sponsored by: Mrs. B. E. Gathercoal Commissioned: 12 August 1944 Decommissioned: 20 May 1945 Fate: Transferred to Soviet Union, 21 May 1945 Reclassified: MSF-265, 7 February 1955 Career (Soviet Union) 
Name: T-275 Acquired: 21 May 1945 Refit: converted to naval trawler, 1948 Renamed: Musson, 1948 Struck: 1964 Fate: unknown General characteristics Class and type: Admirable-class minesweeper Displacement: 650 tons Length: 184 ft 6 in (56.24 m) Beam: 33 ft (10 m) Draft: 9 ft 9 in (2.97 m) Propulsion: 2 × ALCO 539 diesel engines, 1,710 shp (1.3 MW)
Farrel-Birmingham single reduction gear
2 shaftsSpeed: 14.8 knots (27.4 km/h) Complement: 104 Armament: 1 × 3"/50 caliber gun DP
2 × twin Bofors 40 mm guns
1 × Hedgehog anti-submarine mortar
2 × Depth charge tracksService record Part of: US Atlantic Fleet (1943-1945) USS Mirth (AM-265) was an Admirable-class minesweeper built for the United States Navy during World War II. In 1945, she was transferred to the Soviet Navy under Lend-Lease as T-274. The Soviets converted her into a naval trawler in 1948 and renamed her Musson. She was stricken in 1964, never having been returned to U.S. custody. Because of the Cold War, the U.S. Navy was unaware of this fate and the vessel remained on the American Naval Vessel Register until she was struck on 1 January 1983.
Career
Mirth was laid down 31 July 1943 by American Shipbuilding Co., Lorain, Ohio; launched 24 December 1943; sponsored by Mrs. B. E. Gathercoal; and commissioned 12 August 1944, Lt. M. A. Rusteen, USNR, in command. After shakedown in Chesapeake Bay, Mirth, a unit of MinDiv 37, got underway for brief duty with the Naval Operating Base, Bermuda, 29 November 1944. During December she operated from St. George's Bay, sweeping the channels, conducting antisubmarine patrols, thus ensuring safe passage into the western terminus of the southern convoy routes, and escorting single vessels to mid-ocean join-ups with convoys en route.
She returned to Virginia at the end of the month and continued on to New York 3 January 1945. She remained in the New York area throughout January. She departed 8 February for the Panama Canal and further routing to Cold Bay, Alaska. Arriving at the northern port 3 April, Mirth conducted coastal exercises and trained sailors of the Soviet Navy until 21 May.
She was decommissioned and transferred under the terms of Lend-Lease as T-275. The Soviets converted T-274 into a naval trawler in 1948 and renamed her Musson. She was stricken in 1964, never having been return to U.S. Navy custody. Her ultimate fate is unreported in secondary sources.
Unaware of the ship's fate, the U.S. Navy reclassified her as MSF-264 on 7 February 1955, and she remained on the American Naval Vessel Register until her name was stricken on 1 January 1983.
References
This article includes text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
Categories:- Admirable class minesweepers
- Ships built in Ohio
- 1943 ships
- World War II minesweepers of the United States
- Admirable class minesweepers of the Soviet Navy
- World War II minesweepers of the Soviet Union
- Trawlers of the Soviet Navy
- Cold War patrol vessels of the Soviet Union
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