USS Adams (DM-27) was a destroyer minelayer in the United States Navy. She was named for Lieutenant, junior grade Samuel Adams. The other two USS Adams that have existed were named after the second president. Adams was laid down as DD-739, an , on 20 March 1944 at the Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine. She was redesignated a destroyer minelayer DM-27, on 20 July 1944; launched on 23 July 1944, sponsored by Mrs. Maude Ryan Adams, the widow of Lieutenant Adams. Adams was commissioned at Boston, Massachusetts, on 10 October 1944. Service history World War II After fitting out there, she embarked upon her shakedown cruise on 1 November. That cruise, which took her to Bermuda waters, lasted for the entire month. On 29 November, she headed back toward the United States and arrived at Norfolk, Virginia, on 3 December. Following post-shakedown availability in the navy yard there, she put to sea on 11 December with , bound for New York City and a rendezvous with . The two destroyer minelayers departed New York with the aircraft carrier on 15 December and set a course for the Panama Canal. The three warships transited the canal on 20 December and, on 22 December, headed for the California coast. They arrived at San Diego on 29 December and remained there two days undergoing repairs. On New Year's Day 1945, they got underway again, headed for Oahu, and they arrived in Pearl Harbor six days later. For almost two months, Adams remained in the Hawaiian operating area. During that time, she acted as plane guard for while the carrier conducted carrier landing qualifications for naval aviators. She also carried out gunnery exercises and shore bombardment practice. The warship spent two periods in the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard—once for the installation of VF radar equipment and again to have her main deck plating strengthened. Early in February, she laid mines and tested mine detection equipment on them. Later, the warship conducted mine laying exercises. She finished out her tour of duty in the Hawaii area late in February with another plane guard mission with Bataan. The destroyer minelayer stood out of Pearl Harbor on 2 March, bound for the western Pacific. She arrived in Ulithi Atoll on 14 March and remained until 19 March, when she put to sea with a task group of the Okinawa invasion force. The warship saw her first