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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

USS Competent (MSF 316)
ex-USS Competent (AM 316)



Call sign:
November - Charlie - Foxtrot - Sierra

ex-HMS Amelia (BAM 3)


Competent served the Navies of the United States and Mexico
Auk Class Minesweeper:

  • Laid down 19 August 1942 as HMS Amelia (BAM 3) by the General Engineering and Dry Dock Co., Alameda, CA
  • Renamed and reclassified Competent (AM-316), 23 January 1943
  • Launched 30 January 1943
  • Commissioned USS Competent (AM-316), 10 November 1943
  • Placed out of commission, in reserve, 30 January 1947 at San Diego, CA
    Naval Vessel Register of 1 January 1949 lists plan for decommissioning and placing in reserve as December 1946
  • Recommissioned 29 February 1952 at Long Beach, CA
  • Reclassified as a Fleet Minesweeper (Steel Hull), MSF-316, 7 February 1955
  • Decommissioned 15 April 1955 and laid up in the Pacific Reserve Fleet
  • Sold to Mexico 20 September 1972 and renamed ARM Ponciano Arriaga (C 84)
  • Fate unknown.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 890 t.
  • Length 221' 2"
  • Beam 32' 2"
  • Draft 10' 9"
  • Speed 18.1 kts.
  • Complement 105
  • Armament: One 3"/50 dual purpose gun mount, two twin 40mm gun mounts, two 20mm gun mounts, two depth charge tracks, and five depth charge projectors
  • Propulsion: Two 1,888shp Baldwin VO8 diesel electric drive engines, Westinghouse single reduction gear, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Competent 158k . Richard Miller, BMCS, USNR, Ret.
    Competent 160k 8 November 1943
    The Compentent is seen to the right of the USS Gear (ARS 34) in San Francisco, CA
    U.S. Navy photo 7511-43    		 Darryl Baker
    AMS-5 Condor/LST-735 Dukes County 88k Dukes County (LST 735) serving as mother ship for seven minesweepers, probably in a Japanese port, c. 1952-54. Ships nested alongside are: Gull (AMS-16); Firecrest (AMS-10); Condor (AMS-5); Merganser (AMS-26); Osprey (AMS-28); Competent; and Chief (AM-315).
    Courtesy of the U.S. Naval Institute, James C. Fahey Collection.
    U.S. Navy photo NH 68589    		 Naval Historical Center
    Competent 303k 29 February 1952
    Long Beach, CA
    recommissioning of Competent, Gladiator (AM 319) and Devastator (AM 318)    		 Ron Reeves
    Competent 248k
    Competent 790k Long Beach Press-Telegram article dated 29 February 1952
    Chief 245k 27 January 1953 newspaper article from the Evening Bulliten/Hawaiian Star Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii Robert Hurst
    Commanding Officers
    01LT David Donald Long, Jr., USNR10 November 1943 - 24 June 1944
    02LT Archibald Samuel Furtwangler, Jr., USNR24 June 1944
    03LT Marion E. Hensley, USNR10 November 1945
    04LCDR William R. Lacy, USNR27 November 1945
    05LT Richard Henry Campbell, USNR20 June 1946 - 30 January 1947
    06LCDR Edward A. Grant, USN29 February 1952 - August 1952
    Courtesy of Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves and R. A. Moody
    View the Competent (MSF 316)
    DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Website
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    Naval Minewarfare Association
    Association of Minemen
    Back To The Main Photo Index Back To the Mine Warfare Ship Photo Index Back to the Fleet Minesweeper (MSF) Photo Index
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