USS Aroostook (CM-3) - World War I For The USS Aroostook - 1918

1918

After a brief shakedown cruise in mid-June 1918, Aroostook took on board a load of mines and then began a voyage across the Atlantic Ocean in the company of her sister minelayer, the USS Shawmut. This voyage, aided by the novel technique of refueling at sea, took her to Scotland, where in July she began laying thousands of mines across the mouth of the North Sea in order to create a barrier for German U-boats trying to depart from German seaports to the open Atlantic. Aroostook:

• planted 320 mines during the 3rd minelaying excursion on 14 July,
• planted 320 mines during the 4th minelaying excursion on 29 July,
• planted 290 mines during the 5th minelaying excursion on 8 August,
• planted 330 mines during the 6th minelaying excursion on 18 August,
• planted 310 mines during the 7th minelaying excursion on 26 August,
• planted 290 mines on 30 August to complete the 7th minefield after USS Saranac was unable to lay its mines,
• planted 320 mines during the 9th minelaying excursion on 20 September,
• planted 330 mines during the 10th minelaying excursion on 27 September,
• planted 330 mines during the 11th minelaying excursion on 4 October, and
• planted 340 mines during the final 13th minelaying excursion on 24 October.

This effort, nearly completed, was the major operation of the U.S. Navy in European waters during World War I, and it came to an end on 11 November 1918 with the Armistice with Germany and the end of fighting in World War I. The USS Aroostook steamed home to the East Coast in December 1918