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ARMED FORCES EXPEDITIONARY MEDAL
Lebannon 15 AUG 1958 - 23 AUG 1958
Lebannon 02 SEP 1958 -
09 SEP 1958
Cuba 28 OCT 1962 - 11 NOV 1962
NAVY EXPEDITIONARY MEDAL
CUBA
18 SEP 1962 - 23 OCT 1962
Aggressive (AM-422) was laid down on 25 May 1951 at Stamford, Conn., by Luders Marine Construction
Co.; launched on 4 October 1952, sponsored by Mrs. Stephen M. Archer, and commissioned on 25 November 1953 at Brooklyn N.Y.,
in the New York Naval Shipyard, Lt. Lawrence W. Kelley in command.
The minesweeper remained in the shipyard for alterations during most of 1954. Late in the year she
got underway for shakedown training at Key West, Fla. She then reported to her home port, Charleston, S.C. for more training.
In February 1955, her designation was changed to MSO-422. Aggressive took part in a large-scale mine warfare exercise held
off the south-east coast of the United States. Upon completing the exercise, she returned to Charleston to prepare for an
overseas deployment.
Throughout her career, Aggressive alternated duty in the Mediterranean with the 6th Fleet usually
lasting about one-half year with services to fleet units and activities on the east coast of the United States. There she
participated in numerous NATO mine warfare training exercises. During a cruise in 1958, Aggressive took part in the landing
of American forces in Lebanon.
The ship was home ported at Charleston for her whole naval career. She also provided services to
the Naval Mine Warfare School, Charleston; Naval Mine Defense Laboratory, Panama City, Fla.; Mine Evaluation Detachment, Key
West, Fla.; and the Naval Ordnance Laboratory Test Facility, Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Aggressive also took part in several fleet
exercises and operations along the Atlantic coast and in the Caribbean.
On 1 October 1970, preparations to deactivate the ship were begun, and she was decommissioned on
2 July 1971. Her name was struck from the Navy list on 28 February 1975, and she was sold to R. E. Williams in May 1980.
We were transiting the Atlantic en route to a Med deployment in '61, four mighty MSO's of Mindiv 83,
Agile, Aggressive, Bold and Bulwark, and an LST accompanying us as a refueler. We had about a dozen drums of 9230 lube oil
lashed to the minesweep winch to keep the leaky Packards in lube oil. About halfway across the big pond, in the middle of
the night, with the ship rolling it's normal 30-40 degrees, the oil drums broke loose, and commenced rolling around the deck
aft. It was one hell of a sight, each time the ship rolled, the drums would come across the deck and slam into the other side.
The deck crew, led by BM1 Jernigan somehow managed to wedge timbers under the drums as they came to a stop on one side of
the fantail or the other. There were some real heroes out there that night, and somehow the drums got secured without hurting
anybody.
Bob Adelwerth, USS Aggressive (MSO-422)
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