USS Skill (AM-115)

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Career USN Jack
Laid down: 28 November 1941
Launched: 22 June 1942
Commissioned: 17 November 1942
Battle Stars: 1
Fate: Sunk by torpedo off the North African coast, 25 September 1943. Only 32 men survived.
Struck: 11 October 1943
General characteristics
Class: Auk (metal-hulled fleet minesweeper)
Displacement: 890 tons
Length: 221 ft 3 in (67 m)
Beam: 32 (10 m)
Draft: 10 ft 9 in (3 m)
Speed: 18 knots (33 km/h)
Complement: 105
Armament: 1 3", 2 40 mm

USS Skill (AM-115) was an Auk-class minesweeper acquired by the U.S. Navy for the dangerous task of removing mines from minefields laid in the water to prevent ships from passing.

Skill was the first of two ships to bear that name. She was laid down on 28 November 1941 by American Shipbuilding Co. of Cleveland, Ohio; launched on 22 June 1942; and placed in service on 17 November 1942, Lt. Comdr. E. J. Kevern, USNR, in command.

Contents

[edit] North African operations

After a brief shakedown cruise, Skill was ordered to the Mediterranean Sea where she swept mines and performed other mine-warfare countermeasures along the North African coast before the invasion there. After the initial invasion at Salerno, Italy, she was assigned patrol and convoy duty in that area. She returned to the area from escort duty on 25 September 1943 and was assigned a patrol station.

[edit] Sunk by torpedo

At 1140, not long after she had taken station, her forward magazine exploded. This was probably due to a submarine's torpedo because a survivor, whose station was on the bridge, later reported having seen a wake of undetermined origin paralleling the ship at a distance of about 150 yards.

Skill was blown in half and the forward section capsized. The after half caught fire, and the flames moved aft until that section exploded and sank at about 1200. Ten minutes later, the capsized bow slipped beneath the waves. Of her 103 officers and men, none of the officers and only 32 of the men survived. Her name was struck from the Navy list on 11 October 1943.

[edit] Notes

Skill was mistaken for an Allied destroyer and was sunk by German submarine U-593, captained by Kptlt. Gerd Kelbling. U-593 had been laid down in 1940 in Hamburg, Germany and was successful in sinking Allied ships. Eventually, in the Mediterranean Sea, Allied warships caught up with it and it was sunk by the USS Wainwright and the HMS Calpe. Unlike the Skill, with its great loss of life, all crew members of U-593 survived its sinking, and were taken captive by Allied forces.

[edit] Awards

Skill was awarded one battle star for World War II service.

[edit] References

This article includes text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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Auk-class minesweeper
List of mine warfare vessels of the United States Navy