USS Zeal (AM-131)  USS "Zeal" (AM-131) was an that served in both World War II and during the Korean War. As a steel-hulled fleet minesweeper, she was assigned to support the fleet by removing enemy mines whose purpose was to impede the path of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. "Zeal" was the first ship to be so named by the U.S. Navy and was laid down on 12 January 1942 by the Gulf Shipbuilding Company at Chickasaw, Alabama; launched on 15 September 1942, sponsored by Mrs. John M. Hughes; and commissioned on 9 July 1943, Lieutenant Commander H. M. Jones, USNR, in command. After a visit to New Orleans, Louisiana, for deperming, "Zeal" got underway late in July for shakedown training en route to Norfolk, Virginia. During that cruise, she conducted type training out of Key West, Florida. Between 9 and 30 August, post-shakedown availability at the Norfolk Navy Yard occupied her time. On 3 September, she received orders to proceed via Guantanamo Bay to the Panama Canal. "Zeal" arrived in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba on 8 September, and after loading supplies, got underway the following day for the Panama Canal Zone. She reached Coco Solo on 12 September and operated from there for the next month. On 12 October, she departed the Pacific terminus of the canal, bound for the southwestern Pacific. En route, the minesweeper made stops at the Galápagos Islands, Bora Bora, and Tutuila. At Suva in the Fiji Islands, she received orders detaching her from her unit to serve as escort for the tanker on a voyage from Suva to the New Hebrides Islands. She arrived at Espiritu Santo on 2 November and, three days later, departed on another convoy escort mission. That mission set the pattern for her first 11 months in the western Pacific. "Zeal" escorted convoys between the islands of the southwestern Pacific which by that time were becoming increasingly more of a rear area. She also conducted antisubmarine patrols. For the most part, the Solomon Islands, the New Hebrides Islands, Fiji Islands, and the Marshall Islands constituted her zone of operations. In August 1944, however, "Zeal" began training for her first amphibious operation. Operating from Tulagi and Florida Island, she practiced minesweeping maneuvers, drilled at gunnery, and participated in rehearsal landings.