USS Pioneer (AM-105)

Career

Laid down:	30 October 1941
Launched:	26 July 1942
Commissioned:	27 February 1943
Battle Stars:	4
Reclassified:	MSF-105, 7 February 1955
Decommissioned:	8 July 1946
Fate:	Sold to Mexican Navy as Leandro Valle, 1973
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:	100
Armament:	1 X 3 in 2 X 40mm 2 X 20mm 2 depth charge tracks

USS Pioneer (AM-105) 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.

Pioneer was a U.S. Navy oceangoing minesweeper, named after the word “pioneer,” which is defined as a person or group that originates or helps open up a new line of thought or activity or a new method or technical development.

Pioneer was the second U.S. Navy warship to be named “Pioneer.” The first Pioneer was the Osprey (AM-29), which was transferred to the Coast and Geodetic Survey on 7 April 1922 and then renamed Pioneer.

Pioneer was laid down 30 October 1941 by Pennsylvania Shipyards, Inc., Beaumont, Texas; launched 26 July 1942; sponsored by Mrs. H. R. Jessup; and commissioned 27 February 1943, Lt. Comdr. H. B. Stevens in command.

Convoy assignment

Pioneer trained her crew and experimented with newly developed gear in the Gulf of Mexico, Chesapeake Bay, and the Potomac River before joining a Mediterranean-bound convoy at New York 14 May 1943, for the first of four escort voyages from New York or Norfolk, Virginia, to North African ports. In November she took up patrol and escort duty within the Mediterranean.

On 26 November,1943, while bound east from Oran, Pioneer’s convoy was attacked by enemy bombers. They hit a British troopship HMT Rohna (with over 2000 US servicemen aboard)and set her afire; Pioneer stood by, continuing to fire on the attacking aircraft while conducting the rescue of 606 soldiers and crewmen from HMT Rohna.

Operations in the invasion of Italy

She protected critically important Allied convoys in the Mediterranean until assigned to the assault force for the Anzio operation early in January 1944. After training at Salerno, her group sortied from Naples 21 January to sweep a mile-wide channel into the fire support and transport areas, and then swept these areas themselves. When the transports entered the newly cleared area, Pioneer began antisubmarine and antiaircraft patrol, and then resumed escort duties, bringing reinforcements to Anzio 24 January.

Desperate German resistance by land and air as well as from the sea prevented a breakout from Anzio. Pioneer guarded the beleaguered beachhead, patrolling to seaward, escorting supply and reinforcement movements, and sweeping mines dropped by enemy planes intent on isolating the beachhead by sea as it was by land. She returned to wider-ranging escort assignments when advancing Allied land forces broke through to Anzio late in May.

Operations in invasion of France

On 12 August, Pioneer sortied for the invasion of Southern France. Again doughty little minesweepers led the way, clearing the assault area, ignoring shore battery attacks while completing their complex and vital task. Patrol and sweeping operations included extensive activity to prepare newly-captured Marseilles to receive shipping.

World War II Pacific operations

Pioneer sailed from Bizerte 24 November for stateside overhaul preparatory to Pacific deployment, for which she left Norfolk, Virginia, 15 February 1945, bound for Panama enroute to Hawaii. Arriving Pearl Harbor 18 March after underway training, Pioneer installed new radar gear and joined in exercises before getting underway for Okinawa 23 May. Calls enroute delayed her arrival until 7 August. For the remainder of the year, Pioneer joined in the gigantic task of clearing Japanese and Chinese waters of the thousands of mines laid in a decade of warfare.

Decommissioning

Peaceful use of the oceans restored, Pioneer returned to San Pedro, California, 14 February 1946 to inactivate. She decommissioned and went into reserve at San Diego, California, 8 July 1946. She was redesignated MSF-105 on 7 February 1955; and remains in reserve at San Diego until 1973 when she was sold to Mexico in 1973 as the Leandro Valle.

Awards

Pioneer received 4 battle stars for World War II service.

Recognition for rescue operation

The ship (with its crew of roughly 100 sailors), however, was never given any recognition for the rescue of over 600 HMT Rohna survivors. To this day (June, 2007), The Rohna Survivors Organization continues to try to have the Pioneer recognized for this extraordinary rescue operation.

References

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

External links