USS Sentry (AM-299) was an built for the United States Navy during World War II. She served in the Pacific Ocean and was awarded six battle stars, a Navy Unit Commendation, and a Presidential Unit Citation. She was decommissioned and placed in reserve in 1946. In August 1962, the former Sentry was transferred to South Vietnam as RVNS Ky Hoa (HQ-09) in the Republic of Vietnam Navy. Her fate after 1962 is unreported in secondary sources. U.S. Navy career Sentry was laid down on 16 May 1943 by the Winslow Marine Railway and Shipbuilding Co., Seattle, Washington; launched on 15 August 1943 sponsored by Miss Nanette L. Pratt, and commissioned on 30 May 1944. After shakedown, Sentry sailed from San Francisco, California, on 28 August 1944 and joined the U.S. 7th Fleet at Manus on 6 October for the Leyte invasion. She arrived off the Leyte beaches on 17 October and carried out a three-day pre-invasion sweep. She continued sweeping during and after the initial landings on 20 October until joining the transports on 24 October to provide antiaircraft support. Sentry remained in Leyte Gulf for the next six weeks then participated in most of the subsequent landings in the Philippines. With her division, Mine Division 34 she carried out pre-invasion sweeps at Ormoc Bay on 6 December 1944, Mindoro Island on 14 December Lingayen Gulf on 6 January 1945, and Zambales and Subic Bay on 29–31 January. For all but the Ormoc landings, she remained on the scene after the initial troop landings, helping extend the mineswept areas and providing antisubmarine and antiaircraft protection to the transports. Many mines were encountered, and kamikaze resistance was intense, and the ships saw much antiaircraft action. On 13 February, Sentry and her division began pre-invasion sweeps in Manila Bay in preparation for the landings at Mariveles and Corregidor. While sweeping off Corregidor on the 14th, the minesweepers came within 5,000 yards of the island and were repeatedly straddled by Japanese fire before supporting ships silenced the enemy's guns. Sentry continued sweeping in Manila Bay through 19 February, and her division earned a Navy Unit Commendation for the operation. During the next two and one-half months, Sentry carried out various local sweeps in support of mop-up operations in the Philippines, the most notable being a pre-assault sweep for the landings at Legaspi, Luzon on 1 April, and an 8-day sweep in the Sulu