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N7KTP > NAVNET 19.10.05 00:07l 74 Lines 4097 Bytes #999 (0) @ USA
BID : 46270_N7FSP
Read: GUEST
Subj: USS TIDE (AM-125)
Path: ON0AR<ON0AR<HS1LMV<N9ZZK<WA7V<N7FSP
Sent: 051018/1647z @:N7FSP.#SEA.#WWA.WA.USA.NOAM West Seattle, WA. on 145.010
Minesweeper Tide took the brunt of enemy minefield
By Fred Miles Watson -- Managing Editor – Northwest Navigator
The minesweeper USS Tide (AM-125) was built by the Savannah
Machinery and Foundry Company of Savannah, Ga., and was commissioned on
May 9, 1943 with Lt. Cmdr. Alvin Robinson, USNR as its first commanding
officer.
Tide displaced 890-tons, as did all Auk-class sweepers and was 221
feet in length. Her draft was 10 feet, 9-inches and she could attain a
top speed of 18 knots. Tide was outfitted at the time of commissioning
with two, 3-inch gunmounts, four 20mm antiaircraft gunmounts, four
depth charge projectors, one Hedgehog type projector and two depth
charge tubes. A total of 105 Sailors were assigned in Tide.
Following shakedown training out of Key West and Norfolk, Tide got
underway from Hampton Roads for her first transatlantic voyage. On
July 17, as she steamed in convoy for North Africa, the minesweeper
collided with an infantry landing craft, LCI-267, which she had just
provisioned. Damage to the sweeper included sprung plates and two minor
hull punctures which were repaired at sea. Tide arrived at Casablanca
the next day and was soon on her way again escorting a convoy bound for
American ports.
During the homeward voyage on July 29, a sonar contact prompted
Tide to drop depth charges on what she thought was an enemy submarine.
Although a later search revealed an oil slick, no submarine sinking was
confirmed.
Following her arrival at New York on Aug. 9, Tide operated on the
Eastern Sea Frontier until the end of September. During the months of
October and November, she made another successful Atlantic crossing,
returning to New York on Nov. 25, 1943.
During December, Tide participated in exercises off the Maine
coast and conducted mine warfare training off Yorktown. Convoy duties
in the waters of the Eastern Sea Frontier and the Caribbean occupied
her during January 1944. On the 25th, Tide got underway again for what
was to be her longest convoy escort assignment. Departing Charleston,
she steamed, via Bermuda and the Azores, for the United Kingdom until
arriving at Milford Haven harbor England, on March 10. The ship spent
the remainder of the month operating out of Falmouth. In April and May,
she escorted convoys in British coastal waters and engaged in exercises
with minesweepers of the Royal Navy in preparation for the invasion of
Europe. In the last week of May, Tide made sweeps out of Babbacombe
Bay.
On June 5, Tide got underway from Tor Bay with Minesweeper
Squadron "A", a unit assigned to the "Utah" area. Later that day,
German mines began to take their toll as Osprey (AM-56), a squadron
member, was sunk. As the day went on, Tide swept channels off the
Normandy beaches for fire-support ships and continued sweeps the next
day, D-day. During the nights of June 6 and 7, she joined other vessels
in guarding Carentan Estuary from enemy E-boats.
On the morning of June 7, Tide swept the area inshore and between
St. Marcauf and Barfleur to clear lanes for fire-support ships. At
0940, while recovering her gear, Tide drifted over the Cardonet Banks
and struck a mine which exploded with such force that she was lifted
out of the water. The explosion broke her back, blasted a huge hole in
her bottom, and tore away all bulkheads below the waterline causing
immediate and irreversible flooding.
Tide's commanding officer, Lt. Cmdr. Allard B. Heywood, USNR, died
soon after the initial explosion and Lt. Cmdr. George Crane, the ship's
executive officer, directed efforts to assist the stricken vessel and
to rescue survivors. USS Threat (AM-124) and Pheasant (AM61) tried to
aid Tide but the ship was beyond saving. When USS Swift (AM -122)
attempted to tow the damaged ship to the beach, the strain broke her in
two. She sank only minutes after the last survivors had been taken off.
Her name was struck from the Navy list on July 29, 1944.
USS Tide (AM-125) received one battle star for its World War II
service.
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