She was a 220 foot AM fleet minesweeper of the Raven-Auk Class, propelled by diesel electric power. Her beam was 32 feet and displacement was 1259 tons(full load) with an 11 foot draft. Maximum speed was 16 knots and she could cruise 3630 miles at speed and 9260 at economy speed. She had a complement of 7 officers and 76 enlisted men.

After shakedown operations the USS Pursuit on Nov 20, 1943 led the way into Tarawa Lagoon, Gilbert Islands, sweeping ahead of the invasion force and acting as control ship for the marine assault waves onto the beach. Next she was assigned to the Marshell Island and later swept Kwajalein Lagoon. She also did sweeping at French Frigate Shoals and was later assigned to the Phillipine Islands sweeping San Pedro Bay, Ormac Bay, Lingayen Gulf, San Felipe and Subic Bay. After the Phillipines she helped sweep at Okinawa, China and Japan. USS Pursuit earned 8 battle stars during WW II. She was decommissioned at Orange, TX in 1947 and was later recommissioned Feb 15, 1950 as an auxiliary survey ship and designated as AGS17. She proceeded to survey off Labrador and Greenland in the summer months and in the Carribean in the winter months. Pursuit made 3 cruises to the Mediterranean and surveyed off the coast of Turkey. In 1960 she was reassigned to the Pacific and operated near Hawaii until May when she sailed for Long Beach, CA arriving on May 9, 1960. There she was decommissioned on June 30, 1960 and her name was struck from the Navy list on July 1, 1960.