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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Competent (MSF 316)
ex-AM-316



Call sign:
November - Charlie - Foxtrot - Sierra

ex-HMS Amelia (BAM 3)


Competent served the Navies of the United States and Mexico.
Auk Class Minesweeper: Laid down 19 August 1942 as HMS Amelia (BAM 3) by the General Engineering and Dry Dock Co., Alameda, CA; Renamed and reclassified Competent (AM-316), 23 January 1943; Launched, 30 January 1943; Commissioned USS Competent (AM-316), 10 November 1943; Placed out of commission, in reserve, 30 January 1947; Recommissioned 29 February 1952 at Long Beach, CA; Reclassified as a Fleet Minesweeper (Steel Hull),
MSF-316, 7 February 1955; Decommissioned, 15 April 1955; Laid up in the Pacific Reserve Fleet; Sold to Mexico in September 1972 as ARM Ponciano Arriaga. Fate unknown.

Specifications: Displacement 890 t.; Length 221' 2"; Beam 32' 2"; Draft 10' 9"; Speed 18.1 kts; Complement 105; Armament one 3"/50 dual purpose gun mount, two twin 40mm gun mounts, two single 20mm gun mounts, two dcpth charge tracks, five depth charge projectiles; Propulsion two 2,976shp Baldwin VO8 diesel electric drive engines, Westinghouse single reduction gear, two shafts.

Click On Image
For Full Size Image		 Size Image Description Source
Competent 160k 8 November 1943
The Compentent is seen to the right of the USS Gear (ARS 34) in San Francisco, CA
U.S. Navy photo 7511-43		 Darryl Baker
AMS-5 Condor/LST-735 Dukes County 88k Dukes County (LST 735) serving as mother ship for seven minesweepers, probably in a Japanese port, c. 1952-54. Ships nested alongside are: Gull (AMS-16); Firecrest (AMS-10); Condor (AMS-5); Merganser (AMS-26); Osprey (AMS-28); Competent; and Chief (AM-315).
Courtesy of the U.S. Naval Institute, James C. Fahey Collection.
U.S. Navy photo NH 68589		 Naval Historical Center
View the Competent (MSF 316)
DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Web Site.
Crew Contact And Reunion Information
U.S.Navy Memorial Foundation
Fleet Reserve Association
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Association of Minemen
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