USS Velocity (AM-128) - Initial Operations

Initial Operations

After fitting out and conducting sea trials, Velocity took on further supplies, underwent yard work at New Orleans, Louisiana, conducted minesweeping training out of Burrwood, Louisiana, and practiced anti-submarine tactics out of Key West, Florida. Departing the Florida Keys on 3 May, the minecraft arrived at Norfolk, Virginia, on the 6th and escorted a coastal convoy to Charleston, South Carolina, before undergoing further yard work at the Norfolk, Virginia, Navy Yard.

Departing Norfolk, Virginia, on 6 June, Velocity arrived at Key West, Florida, three days later, en route to the Panama Canal Zone. She then escorted eight LST's across the Gulf of Mexico to Balboa, before she transited the canal on 18 June. She departed the Panama Canal Zone on the 24th, but her onward routing was cancelled; and she put back into port soon thereafter. She conducted local operations out of Balboa into July, after which time she transported a cargo of diesel fuel oil to Baltra Island, in the Galapagos group, to alleviate a critical fuel shortage there. When she returned to Balboa, she conducted further local operations, including towing targets for the aircraft from a carrier task group training in the vicinity — including Princeton (CVL-23), Lexington (CV-16), and Belleau Wood (CVL-24).

Velocity subsequently escorted floating drydocks ABD-1 and ABD-2 and their tows, SS Sombrero Key and SS Stratford Point, to the New Hebrides Islands, arriving at Espiritu Santo on 24 September. The minesweeper soon shifted to Noumea, New Caledonia. She operated put of this port on convoy escort and local patrol duties into mid-1944, escorting ships to the New Hebrides, the Solomons, the Ellice Islands, and the Bismarck Archipelago.