Density-AM 218

Density

Closeness or compactness.

(AM-218: dp. 530; 1. 184'6"; b. 33'; dr. 9'9"; s. 16
k.; cpl. 104; a. 1 3"; cl. Admirable)

Density (AM-218; was launched 6 February 1944 by Tampa Shipbuilding Co., Inc., Tampa, Fla.; sponsored by Miss M. Farmwald; and commissioned 15 June 1944, Lieutenant Commander R. R. Forrester, Jr., USNR, in command. She was reclassified MSF-218, 7 February 1965.

Density arrived at San Diego 23 September 1944 to serve as a training ship for the Small Craft Training Center at Terminal Island, until 2 February 1946, when she sailed for Pearl Harbor and Ulithi.

Density sortied from Ulithi 19 March 1945 to sweep mines preparatory to the invasion of Okinawa on 1 April. Patrolling off Okinawa for its capture and occupation, Density fired on the enemy in several suicide attacks. On 6 April she splashed several of the huge kamikaze force which struck the Fleet, then assisted Rodman (DMS-21), picking up 16 of her survivors and towing her to Kerama Retto. On the 22d she splashed an enemy attacker which cleared her bridge by only 10 feet, then rescued three survivors from stricken sherwood (DD-520) before resuming her patrol. Five days later she recovered the body of an enemy officer from a plane she had downed and thus obtained valuable intelligence material including a secret code book and photographs. While sweeping mines she sank an enemy suicide boat off Naha on 4 May.

Density sailed from Okinawa 4 July to join a group of minesweepers supporting the 3d Fleet strikes against the Japanese homeland. From 9 to 28 August she was in San Pedro Bay, Leyte, for brief overhaul, and on 8 September put out from Okinawa to sweep mines in Japanese waters. She remained in the Far East on occupation duty until 20 November when she sailed for the west coast arriving at San Diego 19 December. On 29 January 1946 she arrived at Galveston, Tex., to provide services to the reserve fleet at Orange, Tex., and was placed in commission in reserve 14 May 1946. Density was decommissioned there 3 March 1947.

Density received three battle stars for World War II service.