Whippoorwill Modernized in 1941
Ultimately, however, Whippoorwill's Hawaiian idyll ended. Refitted and modernized, the minesweeper departed Pearl Harbor on 5 May 1941, bound for the Asiatic Fleet, as war clouds gathered over the Pacific and Far East. En route, the minecraft plane-guarded at prearranged stations, serving as a direction-finding station for patrol planes winging their way to the Philippines to reinforce the Asiatic Fleet's air wing—Patrol Wing 10.
After touching briefly at Guam, in the Marianas, on 23 May, Whippoorwill reached Manila on the 30th. There, she became part of Mine Division 9, Mine Squadron 3, Asiatic Fleet. In the ensuing months, Whippoorwill performed a variety of service tasks. She towed targets for the cruisers and destroyers of the Fleet to fire at during battle practices and gunnery shoots, assisted in unmooring and mooring the Fleet's submarine and destroyer tenders from buoys, and conducted similar activities.
Read more about this topic: USS Whippoorwill (AM-35)
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