Originally classified as a "coastal minesweeper," AMc-125, Astute reclassified as a minesweeper, AM-148, on 21 February 1942. She was
laid down on 7 December 1942 at
Tampa,
Florida, by the
Tampa Shipbuilding Company,
launched on 23 February 1943, sponsored by Mrs. M. L. Haney, and
commissioned on 17 January 1944.
Selected for transfer to the
Soviet Navy in
Project Hula – a secret program for the transfer of U.S. Navy ships to the Soviet Navy at
Cold Bay, Alaska, in anticipation of the
Soviet Union joining the
war against Japan – Astute proceeded Cold Bay in the summer of 1945 and began training her new Soviet crew.[4]
Soviet Navy, 1945–1960
Following the completion of training for her Soviet crew, Astute was
decommissioned on 19 July 1945[1] at Cold Bay and transferred to the Soviet Union under
Lend-Lease immediately.[1] Also commissioned into the Soviet Navy immediately,[1] she was designated as a tralshik ("minesweeper") and renamed T-333[3] in Soviet service. She soon departed Cold Bay bound for
Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky in the Soviet Union, where she served in the
Soviet Far East.[4]
In February 1946, the United States began negotiations for the return of ships loaned to the Soviet Union for use during World War II, and on 8 May 1947,
United States Secretary of the NavyJames V. Forrestal informed the
United States Department of State that the
United States Department of the Navy wanted 480 of the 585 combatant ships it had transferred to the Soviet Union for World War II use returned. Deteriorating relations between the two countries as the
Cold War broke out led to protracted negotiations over the ships, and by the mid-1950s the U.S. Navy found it too expensive to bring home ships that had become worthless to it anyway. Many ex-American ships were merely administratively "returned" to the United States and instead sold for scrap in the Soviet Union, while the U.S. Navy did not seriously pursue the return of others because it viewed them as no longer worth the cost of recovery.[5] The Soviet Union never returned Astute to the United States, although the U.S. Navy reclassified her as a "fleet minesweeper" (MSF) and redesignated her MSF-148 on 7 February 1955.
Disposal
T-333 was scrapped in the Soviet Union in 1960.[2] Unaware of this, the U.S. Navy retained Astute on its
Naval Vessel Register until finally striking her name on 1 January 1983.
^
abcdefThe
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting ShipsAstute article states that the U.S. Navy decommissioned Astute on 18 July 1945, and
NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive Astute (MSF 148) ex-AM-148 ex-AMc-125 and
hazegray.org Astute repeat this. However, Russell, Richard A., Project Hula: Secret Soviet-American Cooperation in the War Against Japan, Washington, D.C.:
Naval Historical Center, 1997,
ISBN0-945274-35-1, p. 39, which includes access to Soviet-era records unavailable during the
Cold War, reports that the transfer date was 19 July 1945. As sources, Russell cites Department of the Navy, Ships Data: U.S. Naval Vessels Volume II, 1 January 1949, (NAVSHIPS 250-012), Washington, DC: Bureau of Ships, 1949; and Berezhnoi, S. S., Flot SSSR: Korabli i suda lendliza: Spravochnik ("The Soviet Navy: Lend-Lease Ships and Vessels: A Reference"), St. Petersburg, Russia: Belen, 1994. According to Russell, Project Hula ships were decommissioned by the U.S. Navy simultaneously with their transfer to and commissioning by the Soviet Navy – see photo captions on p. 24 regarding the transfers of various
large infantry landing craft (LCI(L)s) and information on p. 27 about the transfer of
USS Coronado (PF-38), which Russell says typified the transfer process – indicating that Astute's U.S. Navy decommissioning, transfer, and Soviet Navy commissioning all occurred simultaneously on 19 July 1945.
^
abNavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive Admirable (MSF 136) ex-AM-136 ex-AMc-113 states that the ship was scrapped in 1954, while Russell, Richard A., Project Hula: Secret Soviet-American Cooperation in the War Against Japan, Washington, D.C.:
Naval Historical Center, 1997,
ISBN0-945274-35-1, p. 39, reports that the ship's Soviet name was T-333 and states that T-333 was scrapped in 1960. As sources, Russell cites Department of the Navy, Ships Data: U.S. Naval Vessels Volume II, 1 January 1949, (NAVSHIPS 250-012), Washington, DC: Bureau of Ships, 1949; and Berezhnoi, S. S., Flot SSSR: Korabli i suda lendliza: Spravochnik ("The Soviet Navy: Lend-Lease Ships and Vessels: A Reference"), St. Petersburg, Russia: Belen, 1994. Russell, p. 40., also states that T-523 – a Soviet name previously attributed to Astutee but now identified as belonging to the former
USS YMS-144 – was scrapped in 1946, ruling out this misidentification as a reason for confusion over the ship's fate, and it is unclear why NavSource asserts a 1954 scrapping date.
^
abThe
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting ShipsAstute article states that Astute was named T-523 in Soviet service, and
NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive Astute (MSF 148) ex-AM-148 ex-AMc-125 and
hazegray.org Astute repeat this, but more recent research in Russell, Richard A., Project Hula: Secret Soviet-American Cooperation in the War Against Japan, Washington, D.C.:
Naval Historical Center, 1997,
ISBN0-945274-35-1, pp. 39–40, which includes access to Soviet-era records unavailable during the
Cold War, finds that the ship's Soviet name was T-333, while an
auxiliary motor minesweeper, the former
USS YMS-144, also transferred in 1945, had the Soviet name T-523. As sources, Russell cites Department of the Navy, Ships Data: U.S. Naval Vessels Volume II, 1 January 1949, (NAVSHIPS 250-012), Washington, DC: Bureau of Ships, 1949; and Berezhnoi, S. S., Flot SSSR: Korabli i suda lendliza: Spravochnik ("The Soviet Navy: Lend-Lease Ships and Vessels: A Reference"), St. Petersburg, Russia: Belen, 1994.
^
abRussell, Richard A., Project Hula: Secret Soviet-American Cooperation in the War Against Japan, Washington, D.C.:
Naval Historical Center, 1997,
ISBN0-945274-35-1, p. 39.
^Russell, Richard A., Project Hula: Secret Soviet-American Cooperation in the War Against Japan, Washington, D.C.:
Naval Historical Center, 1997,
ISBN0-945274-35-1, pp. 37–38, 39.