USS Energy (AM-436)
Encyclopedia
USS Energy (AM-436/MSO-436) was an Aggressive-class
Aggressive class minesweeper
The Aggressive class minesweepers are a class of US-built minesweepers. They are designated as MSO , distinguishing them from the smaller coastal MSCs and inshore MSIs...
minesweeper
Minesweeper (ship)
A minesweeper is a small naval warship designed to counter the threat posed by naval mines. Minesweepers generally detect then neutralize mines in advance of other naval operations.-History:...
acquired by the U.S. Navy for the task of removing mines that had been placed in the water to prevent the safe passage of ships.
The second ship to be named Energy by the Navy, AM-436 was launched 13 February 1953 by J. M. Martinac Shipbuilding Co., Tacoma, Washington
Tacoma, Washington
Tacoma is a mid-sized urban port city and the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. The city is on Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Park. The population was 198,397, according to...
; sponsored by Mrs. A M. Baughman; and commissioned 16 July 1954, Lieutenant Commander F. H. Sonntag in command. She was reclassified MSO-436, 7 February 1955.
West Coast operations
Energy arrived at Long Beach, CaliforniaLong Beach, California
Long Beach is a city situated in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257...
, her home port, 3 August 1954, and began training along the U.S. West Coast with the ships of her division. On 4 January 1956, she sailed for her first tour of duty in the western Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
, taking part in a large-scale exercise off Iwo Jima
Iwo Jima
Iwo Jima, officially , is an island of the Japanese Volcano Islands chain, which lie south of the Ogasawara Islands and together with them form the Ogasawara Archipelago. The island is located south of mainland Tokyo and administered as part of Ogasawara, one of eight villages of Tokyo...
, and training with ships of the Republic of Korea and the Republic of China
Republic of China
The Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan , is a unitary sovereign state located in East Asia. Originally based in mainland China, the Republic of China currently governs the island of Taiwan , which forms over 99% of its current territory, as well as Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu and other minor...
. Returning to her home port 15 June, she cruised along the west coast during the next year, conducting sonar tests and serving as a schoolship for officers of the Thailand Navy.
Matsu and Quemoy crisis
During her second deployment to the Far East, from 2 June 1958 to 6 January 1959, Energy stood by at TaiwanTaiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
during the crisis brought on by renewed Communist shelling of Quemoy and Matsu
Matsu Islands
The Matsu Islands are a minor archipelago of 19 islands and islets in the Taiwan Strait administered as Lienchiang County , Fujian Province of the Republic of China . Only a small area of what is historically Lienchiang County is under the control of the ROC...
, and again exercised with Chinese minesweepers.
Specialized mine warfare exercises and general training with the fleet along with visits to various west ports, were conducted through the summer of 1960. For the remainder of the year Energy served with the U.S. 7th Fleet in Far East
Far East
The Far East is an English term mostly describing East Asia and Southeast Asia, with South Asia sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons.The term came into use in European geopolitical discourse in the 19th century,...
waters.
Final status
Energy was loaned to the Philippine NavyPhilippine Navy
The Philippine Navy is the naval arm of the Armed Forces of the Philippines . Its official name in Filipino is Hukbong Dagat ng Pilipinas, literally, "Sea Force of the Philippines"....
as Davao de Norte 5 July 1972. Energy was later returned and stricken 1 July 1977. she was subsequently sold for scrapping on 8 July 1977.