The Soviet minesweeper T-118 was originally constructed as the USS Armada (AM-145), an Admirable-class minesweeper built for the United States Navy during World War II. Laid down on October 18, 1942, at Tampa, Florida, by the Tampa Shipbuilding Company, the vessel was launched on December 7, 1942, and completed by September 16, 1943. Although she was completed as a U.S. Navy vessel, she never saw active service with the Americans. Instead, she was transferred to the Soviet Union under the Lend-Lease program on the day of her completion and was commissioned into the Soviet Navy as T-118. T-118 was designed as a minesweeper, a type of vessel tasked with detecting and removing naval mines to ensure safe passage for allied ships. Her service was during a critical period of World War II, but her operational history was short-lived. On August 12, 1944, while operating in the Kara Sea, T-118 was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-365. This loss marked her as a casualty of the intense undersea warfare in the Arctic theater. Despite her sinking during the war, T-118 remained on the American Naval Vessel Register because the U.S. Navy was unaware of her sinking due to the secrecy of wartime operations and Cold War tensions. She was listed as MSF-145 after February 7, 1955, and remained on the register until her name was struck on January 1, 1983. Her sinking in the Kara Sea and her transfer from the U.S. to the Soviet Union highlight her as a vessel of historical significance, representing the complex naval cooperation and conflict during the mid-20th century.

This description has been generated using GPT-4.1-NANO based on the Vessel's wikidata information and then modified by ShipIndex.org staff.