USS Measure (AM-263) was an built for the United States Navy during World War II and in commission from 1944 to 1945. In 1945, she was transferred to the Soviet Union and served in the Soviet Navy from 1945 to 1947 as T-275. She later became the civilian whaling ship Buran ("Blizzard"). Construction and commissioning Measure was laid down at Lorain, Ohio, by the American Ship Building Company on 5 June 1943, launched on 23 October 1943, sponsored by Mrs. Richard W. Mills, Jr., and commissioned on 3 May 1944. Service history U.S. Navy, World War II, 1944-1945 After shakedown in the St. Lawrence River, Measure departed Cleveland, Ohio, on 21 May 1944 for a stop at Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, after which she proceeded to Boston, where she arrived on 2 June 1944. On 16 June 1944 she continued on to Little Creek, Virginia. arriving on 18 June 1944. Assigned to Mine Squadron 13, she spent most of the next month in minesweeping exercises in the Chesapeake Bay, then reported to Service Squadron 5 on 23 July 1944 for towing duty. On 31 July 1944, Measure began operations as training and school ship out of Little Creek, continuing in this role into mid-December 1944. On 26 December 1944 she moved to Norfolk, Virginia, and on 3 January 1945 got underway for the United States West Coast via Miami, and the Panama Canal, arriving at San Diego, on 28 February 1945. Attached to the Western Sea Frontier, Measure steamed north on 1 March 1945, made a stopover at Seattle from 5 to 26 March 1945, and arrived at Kodiak, Territory of Alaska, on 31 March 1945 for minesweeping duty. Selected for transfer to the Soviet Navy in Project Hula – a secret program for the transfer of U.S. Navy ships to the Soviet Navy at Cold Bay, Alaska, in anticipation of the Soviet Union joining the war against Japan – Measure arrived at Cold Bay in the spring of 1945 to begin familiarization training of her new Soviet crew. Soviet Navy, 1945-1947 Following the completion of training for her Soviet crew, Measure was decommissioned on 21 May 1945 at Cold Bay and transferred to the Soviet Union under Lend-Lease immediately. Also commissioned into the Soviet Navy immediately, she was designated as a ("minesweeper") and renamed T-275 in Soviet service. She soon departed Cold Bay bound for Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky in the Soviet