World War II The minesweeper departed Cleveland on 28 November and proceeded via the
Great Lakes and the
St. Lawrence River to
Boston where she arrived on 15 December.
Toucan spent the next four months preparing for duty in the western
Pacific.
Toucan departed
Charleston, South Carolina, on 20 April, transited the
Panama Canal, and arrived at
San Diego, California, on 6 May. Three days later, the minesweeper sailed for
Hawaii and arrived at
Pearl Harbor on the 15th.Getting underway again on the 27th, the ship served in the screens of various
convoys as she proceeded to the
Ryukyus via
Eniwetok,
Guam, and
Ulithi. Reaching
Okinawa as American forces pushed ever closer to Japan's home islands,
Toucan swept the waters surrounding the
Ryukyus and then performed escort duty and sweeping operations with the
U.S. 3rd Fleet as it hammered away at Japanese ports, cities, and airfields through the end of July. With the collapse of
Japan, the task of clearing the offensive and defensive minefields in Pacific seas began in earnest. From 14 to 24 August,
Toucan took part in the "Skagway" sweep in the
East China Sea and Ryukyus area. A call at
Shanghai, China, punctuated two further sweeping operations — from 7 September to 2 October and from 25 to 30 October. The latter was conducted in the
Kyūshū-
Korea area. All told, she steamed over 40,000 miles and swept 134 mines in the East China Sea, the lower
Yangtze River, and in the
Chusan Archipelago. On 6 February 1946,
Toucan left Japanese waters and headed for the
west coast, arriving at
San Francisco, California, on 23 March 1946. Moving to San Diego on 24 April, she began preparations for inactivation and was placed out of commission, in reserve, there on 1 July 1946.
Korean War The outbreak of hostilities in
Korea in June 1950 increased the Navy's need for minecraft. Accordingly,
Toucan was recommissioned on 27 October and operated on the
west coast for more than a year. On 4 January 1952,
Toucan sailed for
Sasebo and called at
Pearl Harbor and
Midway Islands before reaching Sasebo on 2 February. She commenced
Korean War operations in the
Hungnam and
Wonsan areas on 21 February, streaming her sweeping gear and hunting for the dangerous
North Korean mines. With periodic repairs at Sasebo,
Toucan operated primarily off Wonsan. From February through August 1952, the ship fired more than 8,000 rounds of ammunition at Communist shore targets — trading fire with the enemy on many occasions and dodging everything from 76 millimeter shells to small arms fire. Her duties included the disruption of the
North Korean fishing trade. The ship took 13 prisoners while destroying three
sampans and damaging 22 more. The minesweeper also scored hits on enemy bunkers, box cars, and railroad trestles before departing
Korean waters on 1 August to head for
Long Beach, California. The minesweeper returned to the Korean fighting zone the following year and continued her sweeping and interdiction operations in the vicinity of the
Cho-Do,
Paengyoung-Do, and
Cheju-Do island areas from June to September 1953. The ship sailed for
California and operated along the west coast from the time of her arrival at Long Beach on 3 December 1953 through 17 July 1954.
Post-war activity Toucan returned to the
Far East in the summer of 1954 and reached
Incheon,
Korea, on 14 August. Two days later, she got underway for the west coast of
Korea and operated primarily in the
Taeyongyong-Do and
Tojang Po vicinity. She departed Sasebo on 11 January 1955 and proceeded to
Hong Kong only to return to Japanese waters a fortnight later. Her stay at Sasebo was brief. Four days later, she weighed anchor for
Keelung,
Formosa, and thence moved to the
Tachen Islands. On 7 February, the minesweeper took part in the
evacuation of Chinese Nationalists from the Tachen group and disembarked the evacuees at Sasebo a week later. During this mission, on 7 February 1955,
Toucan was redesignated MSF-387. Departing Sasebo only two days after her arrival from the Tachens,
Toucan headed home and arrived at
Long Beach, California, on 11 March. She operated on the
west coast as a unit of
Mine Division 71 until August 1956 when she began another deployment to the Far East. She called at
Yokosuka,
Kobe, Sasebo,
Fukuoka,
Beppu, and
Kagoshima,
Japan, as well as
Keelung,
Formosa, before returning to Long Beach on 21 December.
Decommissioning and transfer to Taiwan On 1 May 1957,
Toucan was inactivated and assigned to the
Pacific Reserve Fleet, berthing at the
Columbia River,
Oregon, Group. Upon disestablishment of this group, the minesweeper was transferred to
Bremerton, Washington, where she remained until 27 May 1964. On that day, she was withdrawn from the
reserve fleet for conversion and transfer to the
Republic of China, effective on 22 December 1964. The ship served in the
Republic of China Navy as
Chien Men (PCE-45), until sunk by boats from the Chinese
People's Liberation Army Navy on 6 August 1965 at the
Battle of Dongshan. ==Awards ==