Captivate AM-156

Captivate

To fascinate or charm.

(AM-156: dp. 630; 1. 184'6"; b. 33'; dr. 10', s. 15 k.;
cpl. 104; a. 1 3"; cl. Admirable)

Captivate (AM-156) was launched 1 December 1942 by Willamette Iron and Steel Corp., Portland, Oreg. commissioned 30 December 1943, Lieutenant B. J. Kocel, USNR, in command; and reported to the Pacific Fleet.

Captivate stood out of San Francisco 11 March 1944, bound for Pearl Harbor and Majuro, where she arrived 10 April. Until 22 September she operated at this forward base for western Pacific operations as harbor entrance patrol and pilot vessel, occasionally escorting convoys to the other islands of the Marshalls group. Through 14 October, she escorted convoys in the Marianas and patrolled off Tinian.

Patrol and escort duties in the newly captured Palau Islands occupied Captivate between 23 October 1944 and 3 February 1945. Similar duty at Eniwetok through the remainder of February ended Captivate's combat area service under the American flag.

Arriving at Portland, Oreg., 27 March 1945, she sailed on to Seattle, where she aided in training programs until 6 July. Clearing for Cold Bay, Alaska, she trained a Russian crew, and was decommissioned 16 August 1945 at Cold Bay. Transferred to the Soviet Union under lend lease the same day, she remains in Russian custody.