USS Lodestone (ADG-8) Class

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USS YDG-11 on 14 August 1945
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Class:        LODESTONE (ADG-8)
Design:        Navy 180' PCE/AM
Displacement (tons):        640 light, 903 lim
Dimensions (feet):        184.5' oa, 180.0' pp x 33.1' e x 9.4' lim
Original Armament:        1-3"/50 4-20mmS (1944: YDG 8-10)
Later armaments:        1-3"/50 2-20mmT 2-20mmS (1945: YDG-11)
Complement:        99
Speed (kts.):        15.7
Propulsion (HP):        2,000
Machinery:        Diesel, 2 screws

Construction:

ADG	Name	Reclas.	Builder	Keel	Launch	Commiss.
8	LODESTONE	23 Dec 43	Albina Engine & Machine	24 Mar 43	16 Jul 43	10 Jun 44
9	MAGNET	23 Dec 43	Albina Engine & Machine	27 May 43	30 Sep 43	10 Jul 44
10	DEPERM	14 Jun 44	Albina Engine & Machine	30 Sep 43	14 Jan 44	13 Nov 44
11	AMPERE	20 Apr 45	Willamette Iron & Steel	24 Nov 43	12 Aug 44	15 Aug 45

Disposition:

ADG	Name	Decomm.	Strike	Disposal	Fate	MA Sale
8	LODESTONE	16 Oct 46	21 Feb 75	13 Apr 76	Sold	--
9	MAGNET	1 Aug 46	21 Feb 75	4 Mar 76	Tgt.	--
10	DEPERM	1946	21 Feb 75	22 Sep 82	Tgt.	--
11	AMPERE	18 Mar 57	1 Jul 61	21 Jun 62	Sold	--

Class Notes:
FY 1942 (YDG 8-10), 1943 (YDG-11). Previous YDGs--whose purpose was to provide degaussing (deperming) services in locations where shore facilities were not available--were service craft or converted YMS-type minesweepers. YDGs were sometimes called "Mobile Degaussing Units." YDG 8-11 were larger and more substantial than any of their predecessors, a consideration that probably led to their promotion out of the service craft category from YDG to ADG in 1947 and their retention as auxiliary ships in the postwar reserve fleet. The two ship types from which they were converted, the 180-foot AM and the PCE, were almost identical in design, the PCE being a patrol variant of the AM. The specifications above are design characteristics for the PCE type, from which YDG 8-10 were converted. The 180-foot AM type, from which YDG-11 was converted, was designed with a displacement at limiting draft of 945 tons, a speed of 14.8 kts, and accommodations for 104 men.

YDG-11 was added to the class in order to make use of the degaussing equipment originally installed in YDG-3. YDG-3 (ex YP-522), a former tuna fishing boat named CHICKEN OF THE SEA built in 1930, was found unseaworthy in March 1945 due to dry rot throughout the hull. Her deperming equipment, supplied by the Bureau of Ordnance, was in good condition, however, and on 19 Apr 45 CNO directed that it be installed in DRAKE (AM-359), then building at Willamette, Oregon. YDG-3 was patched up sufficiently to make the trip to Willamette. DRAKE was one of a group of ships that was built unusually slowly--the two ships on either side of her in the production sequence, DOTTEREL (AM-258) and DRIVER (AM-360), were finally cancelled incomplete on 1 Nov 45. The equipment she inherited from YDG-3 was capable of deperming ships up to the size of Liberty ships by one technique, up to destroyers and LSTs by another, and up to submarines and LSMs by a third.

On 19 Sep 47 CNO ordered YDG 8-11, all then in reserve, to be reclassified to AGD 1-4 (presumably for Miscellaneous Auxiliary, Degaussing). BuShips retorted that, if the change from Y to A designation was considered operationally necessary, much less administrative confusion would result if the ships were reclassified to ADG 8-11 instead. SecNav approved the modified reclassification on 13 Oct 47.

Unusually detailed information is provided in the ship notes regarding the decommissioning of these ships after World War II, partly to demonstrate the extreme complexity of the demobilization process that is represented in most of these pages by a single decommissioning date per ship, and partly to shed light on the decommissioning of YDG-10, for which no date was explicitly reported.

Ship Notes:

ADG	Name	Notes
8	LODESTONE	Ex PCE-876 23 Dec 43. Returned to the West Coast Feb 46, to San Pedro 3 Jun 46 and reported for inactivation. Decomm. 16 Oct 46 "in interest of inactivation program," inactivation 93% complete. Towed from San Pedro to San Diego by ATR-87 23 Oct 46. Placed in inactive status 30 Dec 46 "Out of Commission, In Reserve", inactivation complete. In USN reserve 1946-75. Reclassified ADG-8 from YDG-8 1 Nov 47. Name assigned 1 Feb 55, previously unnamed. Delivered to buyer 26 Apr 76 for scrapping.
9	MAGNET	Ex PCE-879 23 Dec 43. Returned to the West Coast Mar 46, to San Pedro 3 Jun 46 and reported for inactivation. Placed "Out of Commission, In Reserve" 1 Aug 46, inactivation 23% complete. Placed in inactive status 11 Dec 46, "Out of Commission, In Reserve," inactivation almost complete. Towed from San Pedro to San Diego by ATA-185 1 Oct 47. In USN reserve 1946-75. Reclassified ADG-9 from YDG-9 1 Nov 47. Name assigned 1 Feb 55, previously unnamed. Expended as a target 4 Mar 76, probably off California.
10	DEPERM	Ex PCE-883 14 Jun 44. Returned to the West Coast Apr 46, reported for inactivation 2 May, to San Pedro 13-14 May, to San Diego 25 May and reported "under inactivation." Decommissioning not explicitly reported, may have occurred when ship placed in inactive status 24 Dec 46, "Out of Commission, In Reserve," inactivation essentially complete. In USN reserve 1946-75. Reclassified ADG-10 from YDG-10 1 Nov 47. Name assigned 1 Feb 55, previously unnamed. Expended as a target 22 Sep 82 west of San Clemente Is., Calif. by the Pacific Missile Test Center in "Project Test."
11	AMPERE	Ex DRAKE (AM-359) 20 Apr 45. Sent to Guam, immobilized there Apr 46 due to lack of personnel and ordered home to decommission. Arrived at San Pedro 30 May. Selected 19 Sep 46 to remain "In Commission, In Reserve" after inactivation. Towed from San Pedro to San Diego by ATR-66 11 Dec 46. Placed in inactive status 24 Dec 46, "In Commission, In Reserve." Placed "Out of Commission, In Reserve" 15 Jan 47 "in interests of inactivation program." In USN reserve 1946-51 (including time "in commission in reserve"). Reclassified ADG-11 from YDG-11 1 Nov 47. Placed in commission 28 Aug 51 and stationed in Yokosuka and, after 1 Oct 54, in Sasebo, Japan. Name assigned 1 Feb 55, previously unnamed as YDG/ADG. Ordered inactivated and retained in the Far East 18 Jan 57, decommissioned and status changed to "Out of Commission, In Reserve" 18 Mar 57. Replaced as ADG by SURFBIRD (MSF 383). In USN reserve 1957-61. Sold to Philippine President Lines 21 Jun 62 (also reported as 9 Jul 62, possibly the delivery date).