USS Mainstay (AM-261) was an Admirable-class minesweeper built for the U.S. Navy during World War II. She was built to clear minefields in offshore waters, and served the Navy in the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. History Mainstay was laid down by American Shipbuilding Co., Lorain, Ohio, 10 April 1943; launched 31 July 1943; sponsored by Mrs. J. A. Hughes; and commissioned 24 April 1944. After steaming to the U.S. East Coast, Mainstay underwent shakedown in Chesapeake Bay and joined Mine Division 32 on 21 July. Three days later she departed for the Mediterranean, and, as escort for convoy UGS-49, arrived Oran, Algeria, 10 August. On the 15th she sailed for minesweeping operations in support of the Allied invasion of southern France on the coast of Provence. She closed the French coast 20 August, and during the next two months she swept for enemy mines from Marseilles, France, to San Remo, Italy. While sweeping coastal waters between Menton, France, and Ventimiglia, Italy, she came under fire from German shore batteries on 9 and 10 September and engaged the enemy guns with 3-inch gunfire. In addition, she helped repel an attack by submerged, one-man "human torpedoes" on gunfire support ships on the 10th. Mainstay patrolled the Provence coast until 25 October thence, after overhaul at Bizerte, Tunisia, she swept for enemy mines off Cagliari, Sardinia, and Palermo, Sicily. From 3 to 22 March 1945 she helped to salvage , sunk at Anzio by a German mine 9 July 1944. After additional sweeps off Palermo, she sailed 12 April for Oran, joined convoy GUS 84 on the 17th, and arrived Norfolk, Virginia, 5 May. With the war in Europe ended and Allied victory in the Pacific only weeks away, Mainstay sailed for the Pacific 5 July and reached Pearl Harbor 20 August. Departing 1 September, she steamed via Eniwetok and Saipan to Okinawa; and, after arriving 1 October, she put to sea the 7th to avoid an impending typhoon. During the next three days she battled heavy seas while typhoon Louise, a most "furious and lethal storm" wreaked havoc at Okinawa with winds of 120 knots She searched off Okinawa for survivors of this vicious storm until 15 October. Mainstay reached Sasebo, Japan, 20 October, and during the next two months she destroyed numerous mines in waters southwest of Japan, west of the Ryukyus, and north of Formosa. Departing Wakayama 13