USS Inaugural (AM-242)
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| Missing image USS_Inaugural_WWII.jpg USS Inaugural USS Inaugural was awarded two battle stars for her service during World War II. | |
| Career | 
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| Ordered: | |
| Laid down: | 22 May 1944 |
| Launched: | 1 October 1944 |
| Commissioned: | 30 December 1944 |
| Decommissioned: | 9 September 1946 |
| Struck: | 1 March 1967 |
| Fate: | Served as a floating museum in St. Louis until its destruction in the Great Flood of 1993. |
| General Characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 530 |
| Length: | 184'6" |
| Beam: | 33' |
| Draught: | 9'9" |
| Propulsion: | |
| Speed: | 15 k. |
| Range: | |
| Complement: | 104 |
| Armament: | 1 3", 4 40mm. |
| Motto: | |
The fleet minesweeper USS Inaugural (AM-242) was launched on October 1, 1944 and was commissioned on December 30, 1944, Lt. J. H. Pace in command. The vessel was built by the Winslow Marine Railway and Shipbuilding Corporation of Winslow, Washington.
The fleet minesweeper was one of many support ships designed to service and protect larger naval vessels operating in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Typically, the minesweeper detected and removed mines before the rest of the fleet arrived, thereby ensuring safe passage for the larger ships. Their job was essential to the safety and success of U.S. naval operations in the Pacific during World War II. The Inaugural was of the Admirable-class, the largest and one of the most successful classes of U.S. minesweepers ordered during World War II. These minesweepers were also employed as patrol and escort vessels.
Following shakedown off the California coast, Inaugural sailed 14 March 1945 for Pearl Harbor, where she arrived 8 days later. For the next 2 months the minesweeper performed patrol and escort duties between Hawaii and the islands of the western Pacific. She was at Saipan 22 May and departed that day with a convoy bound for Okinawa, site of the last and largest amphibious operation of the tough Pacific war. After a voyage enlivened by several attacks on suspected submarines, the convoy reached Okinawa 30 May 1945.
During the desperate struggle for Okinawa, Inaugural patrolled the seas around the island group, often firing at enemy planes as Japanese aircraft made a suicidal effort to stop American ground forces by destroying their support from the sea. Except for the period 19-24 July, when the ship put to sea to ride out the great typhoon, Inaugural remained in the dangerous waters around Okinawa until 30 August 1945.
With the war then over, she steamed to the waters around Japan and Korea for vital minesweeping operations that were a necessary prelude to occupation. She swept the approaches to Jinsen, Korea, in September, and later cleared mines in waters off Nagasaki and Sasebo, Japan. Inaugural proceeded to Okinawa for needed equipment 14-24 October and then returned to the important minesweeping operations around the Japanese home islands.
The veteran minesweeper sailed 24 December for the United States, via Saipan and Pearl Harbor, and arrived San Pedro, California, 7 February 1946. Sailing again 11 March, she proceeded to Galveston, Texas, and decommissioned there 9 September 1946. Inaugural entered the Atlantic Reserve Fleet, Texas Group, where she remained until struck from the Navy List 1 March 1967 and sold. She was reclassified MSF-242 on 7 February 1955.
The Landmark designation of Inaugural was withdrawn on August 7, 2001 because it had ceased to meet the criteria for designation.
This article includes text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.