HMS Strenuous (J338)

History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Strenuous (J 338)
Builder	Gulf Shipbuilding Corporation, Chickasaw, Alabama
Laid down	1 January 1942, as Vital (AM-129)
Launched	7 September 1942
Completed	18 May 1943, and transferred to the UK under Lend-Lease
Fate	Returned to the US, 10 December 1946
United States
Name	USS Strenuous (AM-129)
Acquired	10 December 1946
Out of service	Declared surplus, 23 April 1947
Fate	Sold, 1948. Scrapped, 1956
General characteristics
Class and type	Auk-class minesweeper
Displacement	890 long tons (904 t)
Length	221 ft 3 in (67.44 m)
Beam	32 ft (9.8 m)
Draft	10 ft 9 in (3.28 m)
Speed	18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph)
Complement	100
Armament	1 × 3"/50 caliber gun 2 × 40 mm guns 2 × 20 mm guns 2 × Depth charge tracks

HMS Strenuous (J338) was a Catherine-class minesweeper of the Royal Navy during the Second World War. Originally planned as USS Vital (AM-129), of the United States Navy's Auk class, she was transferred to the United Kingdom under Lend-Lease.

Vital was laid down on 1 January 1942 at Chickasaw, Alabama, by the Gulf Shipbuilding Corp.; launched on 7 September 1942; sponsored by Miss E. Herrmann; and completed on 18 May 1943. Turned over to the Royal Navy under provisions of the lend-lease agreement, Vital was renamed HMS Strenuous (J.338), and subsequently served in the Royal Navy for the duration of World War II.

Returned to the United States Government after the war, on 10 December 1946, the ship resumed her former classification, AM-129, but not her former name. She was carried on the Naval Vessel Register as USS Strenuous (AM-129), and in the 1 January 1947 edition of the Naval Vessel Register merely as AM-129. She was declared surplus on 23 April 1947 and sold by the State Department's Foreign Liquidation Commission to a foreign purchaser. She served in the merchant service until she was broken up for scrap in Germany in July 1956.

 This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.

• Photo gallery of HMS Strenuous (J-338)/Vital (AM-129) at NavSource Naval History