of the Navy wanted 480 of the 585 combatant ships it had transferred to the Soviet Union for World War II use returned. Deteriorating relations between the two countries as the Cold War broke out led to protracted negotiations over the ships, and by the mid-1950s the U.S. Navy found it too expensive to bring home ships that had become worthless to it anyway. Many ex-American ships were merely administratively "returned" to the United States and instead sold for scrap in the Soviet Union, while the U.S. Navy did not seriously pursue the return of others because it viewed them as no longer worth the cost of recovery. The Soviet Union never returned Mirth to the United States, instead converting her into a naval trawler in 1948 and renaming her Musson. Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy reclassified her as a "fleet minesweeper" (MSF) and redesignated her MSF-265 on 7 February 1955. Disposal The ship was scrapped in 1960. Unaware of her fate, the U.S. Navy kept Mirth on its Naval Vessel Register until finally striking her on 1 January 1983. References NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive - Mirth (MSF-265) - ex-AM-265 Admirable-class minesweepers Ships built in Lorain, Ohio 1943 ships World War II minesweepers of the United States Admirable-class minesweepers of the Soviet Navy World War II minesweepers of the Soviet Union Cold War minesweepers of the Soviet Union Trawlers of the Soviet Navy Cold War patrol vessels of the Soviet Union Ships transferred under Project Hula