USS Instill (AM-252)

Instill was launched 5 March 1944 by the Savannah Machine & Foundry Co., Savannah, Georgia; sponsored by Mrs. Lydia G. Mehoffey; and commissioned 22 May 1944, Lt. Charles A. Hardy, USNR, in command.

After shakedown out of Little Creek, Virginia, and a few weeks of escort duty in that area, Instill was assigned to Service Force, Atlantic Fleet as a training ship. This duty continued until 11 August when she reported to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to operate with shakedown ships as a radar countermeasure ship. Returning to Norfolk, Virginia, 22 October, Instill remained there until 21 January 1946 when she sailed to Orange, Texas. The minesweeper decommissioned there 26 February 1947, joining the Reserve Fleet.

After the outbreak of the Korean War, Instill recommissioned 16 March 1951 and began an intensive period of training and patrol duty between Charleston, South Carolina, and Norfolk, Virginia. She continued her important minesweeping operations and patrol duty along the U.S. East Coast until she returned to Orange, Texas, 3 January 1954.

Instill decommissioned there 1 March and once again joined the Reserve Fleet. Reclassified MSF-252, 7 February 1955, she remained in the Texas Group, Atlantic Reserve Fleet until struck from the Navy List 1 May 1962, and sold in October 1962 to Mexico, and served as DM-10.

The former Instill was acquired by the Mexican Navy in October 1962 and renamed ARM DM-10. She was stricken from Mexican Navy service in 1986,[1] but her ultimate fate is not reported in secondary sources.

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

• Photo gallery of Instill at NavSource Naval History