USS Ardent (AM-340) - Post-World War II Operations

Post-World War II Operations

Departing Pearl Harbor on 20 August in company with USS Scoter (AM-381) and USS Redstart (AM-378), Ardent called at Saipan from 13 to 17 September, and arrived at Okinawa on the 21st.

Pushing on for Japan, Ardent moored at Sasebo, Japan, on 27 September, disembarking passengers, and delivering mail and freight. The ship made a brief trip back to Okinawa, arriving there on 2 October, before she returned to Sasebo on 20 October. During her time at Okinawa, she sortied on 7 October to ride out a typhoon, and conducted sweeps down the island's east coast for survivors of that storm. Joining TU 52.4.1 on 27 October, Ardent proceeded to the "Klondike" minefield area, located in the East China Sea 100 miles (160 km) southwest of Kyūshū. She conducted daily minesweeping operations until 8 November, when she arrived back at Sasebo. Between that time and the end of the year, Ardent operated between Honshū and Kyūshū, escorting ships, transporting minesweeping gear, and observing Japanese minesweeping operations and conducting demolition firing at the mine disposal grounds at Kushikino Ko. She remained thus engaged into March 1946.

Routed to Kobe on 4 March 1946, in company with USS Defense (AM-317), Ardent sailed for the Hawaiian Islands two days later, on 6 March. Touching at Saipan, Eniwetok, Johnston Island and Pearl Harbor, the minesweeper continued on to the west coast of the United States; parting company from USS Defense on 16 April, Ardent dropped anchor in San Francisco Bay on 19 April.