USS Barbican (ACM-5)

USS Barbican (ACM-5)
Career
Name:	USS Barbican (ACM-5)
Builder:	Marietta Manufacturing Company, Point Pleasant, West Virginia
Laid down:	as USAMP Col. George Armistead for the U.S. Army
Acquired:	6 January 1945
Commissioned:	24 March 1945
Decommissioned:	12 June 1946
Reclassified:	ACM-5, 19 January 1945
Struck:	19 July 1946
Fate:	Transferred to the Coast Guard, 18 June 1946, USCGC Ivy (WBL 329), acquired 1969 by Foss Maritime renamed as the Agnes Foss.
General characteristics
Class & type:	Chimo-class minelayer
Displacement:	1,320 long tons (1,341 t) full
Length:	188 ft 2 in (57.35 m)
Beam:	37 ft (11 m)
Draft:	12 ft 6 in (3.81 m)
Speed:	12.5 knots (23.2 km/h; 14.4 mph)
Complement:	69
Armament:	1 × 40 mm gun

USS Barbican (ACM-5) was a Chimo-class minelayer in the United States Navy.

Barbican was constructed as the Army Mine planter USAMP Col. George Armistead (MP-3) by the Marietta Manufacturing Co. at Point Pleasant, West Virginia and delivered to the U.S. Army in December 1942. The ship was acquired by the U.S. Navy from the Army Coast Artillery at Charleston, South Carolina, on 6 January 1945; renamed Barbican and designated an auxiliary minelayer, ACM-5, on 19 January 1945; converted for naval service by the Charleston Navy Yard; and placed in commission there on 24 March 1945, Lt. Comdr. Alexander Anderson, Jr., in command.

Service history

U.S. Navy

Following shakedown training out of Charleston, South Carolina, between 31 March and 24 April, Barbican arrived in the Pacific late in the summer of 1945 too late to participate in the war against Japan. In fact, Barbican did not depart Pearl Harbor and head for the western Pacific until 17 August, two days after the Japanese capitulation ended hostilities. On her way west, the auxiliary minelayer made one stop at Midway Island before arriving at Saipan in the Marianas on 20 September.

There, she reported for duty with the Commander, Minecraft, Pacific Fleet. For a little more than a month, she served as tender and flagship for a squadron of motor minesweepers (YMS), performing those duties both at Saipan and at Okinawa. Late in October, the ship moved from Okinawa to Sasebo, where she took part in the postwar occupation of Japan. That assignment lasted until 24 February 1946, when she headed back to the United States reporting to the Commandant, 12th Naval District, late in April 1946 for duty pending inactivation. Barbican was placed out of commission at San Francisco, on 12 June 1946 and was transferred simultaneously to the U.S. Coast Guard. Her name was struck from the Navy list on 19 July 1946.

U.S. Coast Guard

The ship entered service with the Coast Guard in 1947 as the fourth tender named Ivy (WLB / WAGL-329) and stationed at Miami, Florida tending aids to navigation and assisting in search and rescue or law enforcement when needed. On 29 June 1951 Ivy transferred to Portland, Oregon for the remainder of her Coast Guard service. Ivy decommissioned on 26 November 1969. The vessel was then acquired by Foss Maritime and renamed as the Agnes Foss, the second ex Army mine planter of the name Col. George Armistead to be operated by Foss as Agnes Foss.

References

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.

See also

• Mine Planter Service (U.S. Army)
• List of ships of the United States Army
• List of United States Navy ships
• Dekanawida (YTB-334) the first USAMP Col. George Armistead to be operated by Foss as Agnes Foss

External links

• NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive – USCGC Ivy (WBL 329) – ex-USCGC Ivy (WAGL 329) – ex-Barbicon (ACM 5) – ex-Colonel George Armistead
• Ivy, 1947 ACM-5; WLB / WAGL-329 ex-Barbican; ex-Colonel George Armistead
• Army Ships -- The Ghost Fleet - Coast Artillery Corps - Army Mine Planter Service
• Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships