USS Bobolink (AM-20)
{{short description|Lapwing-class minesweeper}}
{{other ships|USS Bobolink}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2021}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image |Ship image=USS bobolink AM-20 AT-131 1942.jpg |Ship caption=Bobolink at Pearl Harbor, August 6, 1942 }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country=United States |Ship flag= {{USN flag|1946}} |Ship name= USS Bobolink |Ship namesake= |Ship ordered= |Ship builder=Baltimore Dry Dock and Shipbuilding Company, Baltimore, Maryland |Ship original cost= $761,959 (hull & machinery){{cite journal |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=mZEqAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA762 |title= Table 21 - Ships on Navy List June 30, 1919 |journal= Congressional Serial Set |publisher= U.S. Government Printing Office |year= 1921 |page= 762 }} |Ship laid down= |Ship launched=15 June 1918 |Ship acquired= |Ship commissioned= 28 January 1919, as Minesweeper No.20 |Ship decommissioned=22 February 1946 |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship struck= |Ship renamed= |Ship reclassified=*AM-20, 17 July 1920
|Ship homeport= |Ship motto= |Ship nickname= |Ship honours= 1 battle star (World War II) |Ship fate=Sold, 5 October 1946 |Ship notes= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship class= {{sclass|Lapwing|minesweeper}} |Ship displacement= {{convert|950|LT|t|0|abbr=on}} |Ship length= {{convert|187|ft|10|in|m|abbr=on}} |Ship beam= {{convert|35|ft|6|in|m|abbr=on}} |Ship draft= {{convert|9|ft|9|in|m|abbr=on}} |Ship depth= |Ship hold depth= |Ship propulsion= |Ship speed= {{convert|14|kn|lk=in}} |Ship range= |Ship complement=72 |Ship armament=2 × 3"/50 caliber gun guns |Ship armor= |Ship notes= }} |
USS Bobolink (AM-20/AT-131/ATO-131) was a {{sclass|Lapwing|minesweeper}} acquired by the United States Navy for the dangerous task of removing mines from minefields laid in the water to prevent ships from passing.
Bobolink was launched on 15 June 1918 by Baltimore Dry Dock and Shipbuilding Company, in Baltimore, Maryland; sponsored by Miss Elsie Jean Willis; and commissioned 28 January 1919, with Lieutenant Frank Bruce in command.
World War I minefield clearance
Bobolink departed Norfolk, Virginia in April 1919 to join Division 2, North Sea Minesweeping Detachment, at Kirkwall, Orkney Islands. While sweeping in the North Sea on 14 May 1919, a mine exploded close by, causing considerable damage to the stern and killing [http://navy.togetherweserved.com/usn/servlet/tws.webapp.WebApp?cmd=ShadowBoxProfile&type=Person&ID=356608 Bruce, Frank M., LT]. {{USS|Bruce|DD-329}} was named after Lt. Bruce. Her repairs at the Devonport Dockyard, England, took six months.
File:Ophir NH-154.jpg to Cape Henry]]
In January 1920 she returned to Norfolk. En route she came to the aid of USS {{SS|Ophir||2}} off Bermuda. Bobolink towed Ophir until a storm broke the tow rope about {{convert|100|nmi|km}} off Cape Henry.{{cite news |url= https://gibraltarinsight.com/2019/09/16/uss-ophir-the-burning-question/ |last=Baker |first=Paul |title=USS Ophir – The Burning Question |newspaper=Gibraltar Insight |date=16 September 2019 |access-date=29 May 2023}}
Postwar operations
Between 1920 and 1931, Bobolink served with the Fleet Base Force, Scouting Fleet, on the East Coast of the United States and took part in fleet problems, concentrations, and joint Army-Navy maneuvers. On 3 March 1932, she arrived on the West Coast of the United States and was thereafter based at San Diego. She operated along the western seaboard between San Francisco and San Quentin Bay, Mexico, with the Fleet Train and various destroyer divisions. In 1935, she took part in the annual exercises and fleet problems held off Hawaii. Between January and March 1939, she participated in fleet problems in the Caribbean and then returned to San Diego, arriving there on 13 May 1939.
World War II operations
In September 1940, Bobolink joined the Train, Base Force, United States Fleet, at Pearl Harbor. She remained there until September 1942. Bobolink was present during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, laying in dock next to six destroyers near the district HQ. Following the attack, she served as a salvage vessel and minesweeper. Between 20 May and 2 July 1942, she was converted to an ocean-going tug (redesignated AT-131 on 1 June 1942). Remaining at Pearl Harbor until September 1942, Bobolink then steamed to the South Pacific and operated out off Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands; Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides; and Noumea, New Caledonia, as a tug until February 1944. In particular, she helped rescue survivors and assisted several crippled U.S. warships in the aftermath of the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. She arrived at Long Beach, California, 4 March 1944 for overhaul and returned to Pearl Harbor on 29 June 1944. Bobolink was reclassified ATO-131 on 15 May 1944.
Decommissioning
She served in Hawaiian waters until the fall of 1945, and then returned to Mare Island Navy Yard, where she was decommissioned 22 February 1946. She was sold through the Maritime Commission 5 October 1946.
Bobolink received one battle star for operations during World War II.
References
- {{DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/b/bobolink-i.html}}
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{navsource|11/02020|USS Bobolink}}
- [http://www.hazegray.org/danfs/mine/ hazegray.org: USS Bobolink]
- First-hand account of Bobolink's North Sea minesweeping operations available in the [https://www.usna.edu/Library/sca/man-findingaids/MS_533.EAD.xml Robert R. Longwell Papers, 1911-1920 (bulk 1917-1920), MS 533] held by Special Collections & Archives, Nimitz Library at the United States Naval Academy
{{Lapwing class minesweeper}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bobolink}}
Category:Ships built in Baltimore
Category:Lapwing-class minesweepers
Category:Ships present during the attack on Pearl Harbor
Category:World War II auxiliary ships of the United States