USS Symbol (AM-123) was an Auk-class minesweeper acquired by the United States Navy for the dangerous task of removing mines from minefields laid in the water to prevent ships from passing.

She arrived off the beaches on 8 September and streamed her sweep gear at 2245 hours to clear the inshore transport area.

On 21 September she went to the aid of SS William W. Gerhard, which had either hit a mine or been torpedoed, and took aboard 124 survivors.

Symbol shuttled between North African and Italian ports until 8 January 1944 when she arrived at Naples, Italy, with a convoy from Oran.

She was attached to the sweeper group for Operation Shingle, the landing of Allied forces 60 miles behind the German lines in the Anzio-Nettuno area.

On the 10th, a German fighter-bomber attacked, dropping an anti-personnel bomb which exploded 50 yards off the starboard quarter just before hitting the water.

Symbol departed Naples, Italy, on 12 August as a convoy escort for ships destined to participate in Operation Dragoon, the invasion of southern France.

The ship next swept the "Klondike" area of the East China Sea from 27 October until 8 November when she returned to Sasebo.

The ship sailed on 25 November and arrived at Kiirin, Formosa, on the 28th to sweep the "Sherlys" area, north of that island.

Symbol steamed out of Shanghai in early January 1946 bound for the United States via Pearl Harbor.

Upon her arrival at San Diego, California, on 8 February, she was ordered to report to the 19th Fleet for duty without a preinactivation overhaul.

The minesweeper was given an overhaul at the Long Beach Naval Shipyard from 8 October to 26 November 1947 and returned to her berth at San Diego.

Symbol participated in extensive minesweeping and patrol operations on the east coast of Korea, including the sweep of Wonsan Harbor.

Symbol, operating with Toucan (AM-387), intercepted large numbers of communist sampans running food and supplies along the coast.