USS Thrush (AM-18) - World War II Atlantic Operations

World War II Atlantic Operations

Thrush conducted wartime patrols out of Pará before moving her base of operations to Natal, Brazil, on 20 December. Refuelling planes, carrying supplies, and serving as a seagoing "jack-of-all-trades" – even as a floating radio station upon occasion – Thrush continued operations off the Brazilian coast through the early spring of 1942.

On 18 May, Brazilian Lloyd steamer SS Commandante Lyra fell victim to a German U-boat's torpedoes off Cape San Roque, Brazil. Thrush responded to the merchantman's signal requesting assistance. When she reached the burning ship, she sent over a salvage party to fight both the flames which blazed in two holds and the flooding which had already entered several compartments. The seaplane tender passed a towline to the stricken merchantman and towed her 200 miles to Fortaleza Bay.

The ship continued operations out of Natal and Recife, Brazil, through October 1942. She departed Fortaleza Bay on 14 October, bound, via Trinidad and San Juan, for Norfolk, Virginia. Arriving at Hampton Roads on 1 November, the ship underwent an overhaul and upkeep period at the Norfolk Navy Yard before 12 days of gunnery training and other exercises in Chesapeake Bay through 26 December. The ship then called at Mayport, Florida and Jacksonville, Florida, before arriving at San Juan on 8 January 1943. Pressing on to Trinidad, Thrush spent one week at the British West Indian port before heading for Brazil and arriving at Belém on the 25th. She then operated off the coast of Brazil escorting coastal convoys until 4 April, when she departed Belém and proceeded homeward—via Trinidad, San Juan, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and the Windward passage—and reached Norfolk on 22 April.

On 2 May, Thrush arrived at Quonset Point, Rhode Island, to begin training operations which lasted through the summer. Engaged in antisubmarine drills, the seaplane tender towed targets for dive-bomber practices; retrieved practice torpedoes; and acted as an escort for R class submarines engaged in training exercises with aircraft. Upon completion of this duty, the ship moved south and made port at Norfolk on 9 August for availability which lasted through 11 September.

Heading further south, Thrush took part in the dismantling of naval air bases at Almirante Bay, Panama, and at Moneypenny Anchorage, Nicaragua. She then deployed to Baltra Island in the Galápagos group during November and returned to Panamanian waters in December.

Operating in the Panama Canal Zone through January 1944, Thrush subsequently carried a U.S. Army surveying party to the Cocos Islands and to the Honduran coast in March before towing a Navy oil barge back to Panama. From April through September, the ship participated in submarine training exercises off Key West, Florida, and towed targets for submarines and aircraft before putting into the Norfolk Navy Yard for availability.

Following repairs, she headed south, via Trinidad, to Surinam and arrived at Paramaribo on 19 November. She anchored off the mouth of the Surinam River and commenced tending Martin PBM's—a duty which lasted through March 1945, punctuated briefly by an inspection at Trinidad. Subsequently, Thrush returned to the routine operations of beaching and repairing aircraft, fueling them, and feeding their crews. Acting also as a floating radio station, the seaplane tender continued these duties from her return from Trinidad on 24 March to 4 June.