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USS Gallant (MSO 489)

USS GALLANT was one of the AGGRESSIVE - class ocean minesweepers and the second ship in the Navy to bear the name. Both decommissioned and stricken from the Navy list on April 29, 1994, the GALLANT was transfered to the Taiwanese Navy in August 1994. There, the ship was recommissioned as YUNG KU (M 1308).

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Crew List:

This section contains the names of sailors who served aboard USS GALLANT. It is no official listing but contains the names of sailors who submitted their information.

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USS GALLANT History:

USS GALLANT was constructed as part of the large generation of ocean minesweepers built during the 1950s to counter conventional and influence mines. She was laid down as AM 489 by J. M. Martinac Shipbuilding Corporation at Tacoma, Washington, on May 21, 1953. GALLANT was launched on June 4, 1954, sponsored by Mrs. Walter Meserole. On February 7, 1955, while still fitting out, she was reclassified from AM 489 to MSO 489, identifying her as an ocean minesweeper. She was commissioned at Tacoma on September 14, 1955, with Lieutenant Dixon Lademan in command.

Following commissioning and initial training, GALLANT was based at Long Beach, California, as a unit of Mine Division 96, Mine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet. Her early operating schedule included mine countermeasures training, fleet exercises and cruises along the California coast and southward to Acapulco, Mexico. On February 8, 1956, GALLANT became involved in one of the first specifically documented operational incidents of her career when a U.S. Navy aircraft went down near Santa Catalina Island off Southern California. Minesweepers in the area joined the resulting search-and-rescue operation. By approximately 11:00 p.m., the men from the aircraft had been accounted for and were safely aboard GALLANT.

In January 1957, GALLANT joined Mine Division 73 and began concentrated preparations for her first deployment to the western Pacific. She departed for the Far East in March 1957 and spent approximately six months operating with the U.S. Seventh Fleet. The deployment took place during the continuing Cold War confrontation in East Asia following the Korean War and amid persistent tension around the Korean Peninsula and Taiwan Strait. During this first western Pacific deployment, GALLANT operated in Korean waters in combined exercises with the Republic of Korea Navy. She subsequently conducted mine warfare training off Taiwan with units of the Republic of China Navy. Additional operations and port visits took her to Japan and Hong Kong. GALLANT completed the deployment and returned to Long Beach on August 20, 1957.

A shipyard overhaul at San Diego followed. After completing the yard period, GALLANT resumed operational training and participated in amphibious landing exercises along the California coast, conducting mine countermeasures work in connection with amphibious operations. In October 1958, GALLANT operated with Canadian Mine Squadron 2 during combined minesweeping exercises off Vancouver, British Columbia. The exercise formed part of continuing U.S.-Canadian naval cooperation in the northeastern Pacific and provided combined training in mine countermeasures procedures.

Another overhaul was completed by April 1959. GALLANT then conducted refresher training and further mine warfare exercises. Her performance during fiscal year 1959 resulted in the award of both the Battle Efficiency Competition Award "E" and the Minesweeping "M".

GALLANT began her second western Pacific deployment in August 1959. During the cruise she again conducted combined operations with the Republic of Korea Navy. Operating from the Philippines, she also participated in joint readiness exercises involving naval forces of Southeast Asia Treaty Organization nations. SEATO had been established in 1954 as part of the Western security framework in Southeast Asia, and multinational exercises formed part of the military cooperation among participating nations during this period. The deployment ended in March 1960 when GALLANT returned to Long Beach. During the following twelve months she operated with the mine forces of the U.S. First Fleet. Her activities ranged from Southern California northward along the Pacific coast and extended as far as Ketchikan, Alaska.

GALLANT departed on her third western Pacific deployment in August 1961. She again participated in fleet readiness and combined exercises with allied naval forces in East and Southeast Asian waters. The deployment also brought the minesweeper into the developing conflict in South Vietnam. At this stage, American involvement there was still primarily advisory, although U.S. military assistance and the number of American personnel in the country were increasing. During the deployment GALLANT patrolled along the coast of South Vietnam and supported training involving the Republic of Vietnam Navy. Official Navy records identify Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal qualifying service from December 20, 1961 through February 7, 1962.

GALLANT returned to the U.S. West Coast on April 20, 1962. During the following fifteen months she operated from Long Beach, participating in fleet maneuvers, mine squadron exercises and routine readiness training.

On August 12, 1963, GALLANT departed Long Beach on her fourth western Pacific deployment. She reached Sasebo, Japan, on September 23. From there she resumed Seventh Fleet operations across a broad area of the western Pacific. Her activities ranged from waters off South Korea through the East China Sea and South China Sea and into Southeast Asian waters. GALLANT departed the western Pacific during the spring of 1964. After returning to the United States she resumed training, including minehunting and other mine countermeasures work.

By 1965, the war in Vietnam had expanded considerably. Large U.S. combat formations were being deployed to South Vietnam, while the Navy had established Operation Market Time to monitor the coastline and offshore approaches. The operation was intended to detect and intercept vessels suspected of transporting weapons, supplies or personnel from North Vietnam to Communist forces in the south. GALLANT arrived off the southern coast of South Vietnam on October 1, 1965 and joined Operation Market Time. Although designed primarily as an ocean minesweeper, she could also perform the coastal surveillance and interdiction duties required by the operation.

During the remainder of 1965, GALLANT conducted patrols offshore and participated in the stopping, boarding and searching of suspicious vessels. Much of the local maritime traffic consisted of junks, sampans and other small craft, requiring the surveillance force to examine large numbers of vessels while attempting to distinguish normal coastal activity from infiltration. Official Navy campaign records identify Vietnam Service Medal qualifying periods from October 5 through November 15, 1965 and again from December 18 through December 31. GALLANT remained in support of Operation Market Time until March 9, 1966. On that date, she departed the operational area for the United States. Her return route took her through the Philippines, Guam and Pearl Harbor before she arrived at Long Beach on April 28.

During the remainder of 1966, GALLANT operated along the U.S. West Coast, with activities extending from Long Beach northward to Portland, Oregon. During September 1966, GALLANT was used during production of the Elvis Presley motion picture "Easy Come, Easy Go" and appears in its opening naval sequences.

GALLANT returned to Southeast Asian waters during 1967. Navy campaign records identify Vietnam Service Medal qualifying periods from June 16 through August 1, on September 7, from September 30 through October 24 and from November 11 through December 15, 1967. Operation Market Time remained an important component of American maritime operations around South Vietnam during 1967, while U.S. mine countermeasures forces also maintained their specialized capability for use if mines threatened harbors, channels or coastal approaches.

GALLANT again served in Vietnamese waters during 1969. Official campaign records identify Vietnam Service Medal qualifying service from August 22 through October 13 and from October 30 through December 4. Navy archival holdings also identify a GALLANT cruise book covering the 1969-1970 period, confirming an extended western Pacific deployment during this era. A particularly precise location is documented for early November 1969. GALLANT was moored at a pier in Da Nang on November 5 and November 6. Da Nang was one of the principal U.S. naval, logistical and operational centers in the northern part of South Vietnam. GALLANT continued her deployment after the Da Nang visit, with her documented Vietnam Service Medal qualifying period extending through December 4.

On March 27, 1971, GALLANT was photographed underway in company with USS PLUCK (MSO 464) and another ocean minesweeper. Later that year, GALLANT again accumulated qualifying Vietnam service. Navy records identify periods from May 22 through June 29 and from August 1 through September 14, 1971. These dates establish two substantial periods of Vietnam-related operational service during 1971. By the early 1970s, the American military presence in Vietnam was being reduced under the policy of Vietnamization. U.S. forces gradually transferred increasing responsibility for coastal and riverine security to the Republic of Vietnam Navy, while direct American combat operations declined before the cease-fire of January 1973.

By the latter part of the decade, however, official Navy records identify GALLANT with the Naval Reserve Force in the San Francisco Bay area. Under the Naval Reserve Force system, GALLANT retained an active-duty nucleus while Selected Reservists embarked for training periods and underway exercises. The arrangement allowed operational ships to provide realistic mobilization and fleet training for reserve personnel while remaining part of the Navy's mine countermeasures organization. GALLANT was photographed underway in the Pacific on February 2, 1979. Navy organizational records from April 1979 list her among Reserve Forces and Training Units supported by Naval Air Station Alameda, California. Other ships in this organization included USS TULARE (LKA 112), USS CARPENTER (DD 825) and USS EXCEL (MSO 439).

On November 3, 1979, GALLANT participated in Ready-One 80, a large combined reserve exercise in the San Francisco Bay area. Approximately 3,000 personnel participated. Ships involved in the naval portion included TULARE, CARPENTER, USS ORLECK (DD 886), GALLANT and EXCEL. The exercise included a simulated amphibious operation in the Marin County headlands north of the Golden Gate and formed part of the readiness training of Naval Reserve and National Guard forces.

GALLANT was called upon for a real-world mine search on January 10, 1980. The Soviet merchant ship NIKOLAY KARAMZIN was at the Port of Sacramento loading corn when telephone threats claimed that mines had been placed in waters intended to prevent the ship from leaving. The incident occurred only weeks after Soviet forces had entered Afghanistan in December 1979, at a time when relations between the United States and Soviet Union had deteriorated sharply. GALLANT was sent into the Sacramento Deep Water Ship Channel to search for possible mines. No mine was found.

GALLANT remained associated with the San Francisco Bay Naval Reserve organization during the early 1980s. Her duties included maintaining mine countermeasures proficiency, providing underway training for Selected Reservists and participating in fleet and reserve exercises. Navy organizational records continued to list GALLANT and EXCEL among reserve training units supported from Alameda.

On June 15, 1983, GALLANT was documented during Naval Reserve Force operations in Alaskan waters. She entered Ketchikan, Alaska, in connection with minesweeping exercises in the Gulf of Alaska. Contemporary Navy material concerning the reserve minesweeper force specifically recorded GALLANT during these northern operations. A major propulsion casualty occurred the following year. On February 13, 1984, while operating off Southern California, GALLANT became fouled in a one-half-inch stainless-steel cable. The cable wrapped around the port propulsion shaft in the area between the propeller hub assembly and the strut and cut through the external portion of the shaft. The propeller hub remained connected essentially by the internal pitch-control shafting.

A replacement shaft was ordered and repairs in San Francisco were planned for early March. Before GALLANT could safely make the voyage north, however, the damaged port propeller had to be secured or removed. On February 22, 1984, divers from Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit One Detachment prepared to remove the variable-pitch propeller blades. Because the damage prevented the blades from being rotated into the normal position required for removal, a different procedure had to be adopted. Commander Naval Surface Force Pacific directed that the shaft itself be cut and the complete propeller removed.

GALLANT was moved to the west mole pier at the 32nd Street Naval Station in San Diego. Navy divers rigged a belly band and lifting arrangement around the propeller and prepared underwater cutting equipment. Using an ultrathermic cutting rod, the divers cut through the damaged shaft. The operation was complicated by the restricted space between the propeller hub and strut and by hydraulic oil escaping from the damaged shaft, which reduced underwater visibility. The divers freed the propeller in approximately 90 minutes and brought it onto GALLANT's deck. With the damaged propeller removed, GALLANT was able to get underway for San Francisco, where a replacement shaft was subsequently installed. The operation was later documented in the Navy's professional diving and salvage literature because of the unusual method required to remove the damaged propeller.

GALLANT returned to service following the repairs and was photographed underway in the Pacific on August 2, 1984. Navy organizational documentation continued to list her among Reserve Force units associated with Alameda during the mid-1980s. On July 4, 1985, GALLANT was one of seven U.S. Navy ships visiting Anchorage, Alaska, for Independence Day. Approximately 1,600 sailors from the visiting force were reported in the city. The ships included the nuclear-powered cruiser USS TRUXTUN (CGN 35), the frigates USS HAROLD E. HOLT (FF 1074) and USS BREWTON (FF 1086), and the ocean minesweepers EXCEL, USS IMPLICIT (MSO 455), USS ENHANCE (MSO 437) and GALLANT.

GALLANT remained active with the Pacific Naval Reserve Force during the later 1980s. Photographic evidence dating from approximately 1987 documents her off Vancouver, British Columbia. Her presence in Canadian Pacific waters is more precisely documented on June 6, 1990, when GALLANT was again photographed off Vancouver. U.S.-Canadian naval cooperation and exercises remained a regular feature of operations in the Pacific Northwest.

The strategic environment was changing rapidly during this period as the Cold War approached its conclusion. Mine countermeasures nevertheless remained an active component of U.S. naval planning. The 1990-1991 Persian Gulf crisis and war again demonstrated the operational threat posed by naval mines, although GALLANT did not deploy to the Persian Gulf. Despite her age, GALLANT remained operational into the early 1990s while newer AVENGER-class mine countermeasures ships entered the fleet.

On April 15, 1993, GALLANT was anchored in the Strait of Juan de Fuca during Marcot '93, a joint U.S.-Canadian fleet exercise. The strait between Washington State and Vancouver Island was regularly used for bilateral naval training involving forces from the United States and Canada. GALLANT's participation in Marcot '93 occurred less than a year before her final withdrawal from U.S. Navy service and continued the pattern of Pacific Northwest mine warfare training that had characterized much of her Naval Reserve Force career.

By 1993, plans were also proceeding for the transfer of several older U.S. ocean minesweepers to the Republic of China. The group ultimately included GALLANT, IMPLICIT, USS CONQUEST (MSO 488) and USS PLEDGE (MSO 492). GALLANT's U.S. Navy service ended on April 29, 1994. A decommissioning ceremony was held at Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay. Contemporary photographs document the ship during the ceremony and later under tow toward Mare Island on the same date. The United States subsequently transferred GALLANT to the Republic of China under the Security Assistance Program on September 8, 1994. Her commissioned U.S. Navy career had lasted more than 38 years.

Following transfer preparations, the former GALLANT crossed the Pacific with the other former U.S. minesweepers acquired by Taiwan. Taiwanese historical records state that the four ships arrived at Kaohsiung on February 5, 1995 and entered Republic of China Navy service on March 1. The former GALLANT became YUNG KU (MSO 1308).

The Republic of China Navy held YUNG KU's decommissioning ceremony at Hsinbin Pier in Kaohsiung at 8:00 a.m. on June 28, 2013. Her formal decommissioning became effective on July 1, 2013. The interval between GALLANT's original U.S. Navy commissioning on September 14, 1955 and the final retirement of YUNG KU on July 1, 2013 spanned almost 58 years.

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