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WOODEN SHIPS & IRON MEN
Aggressive Class Minesweeper: Laid down, 12 December 1951 at Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth,
VA; Launched, 14 March 1953; Commissioned USS Bulwark (AM-425), 12 November 1953; Reclassified as an Ocean Minesweeper
MSO-425, 7 February 1955; Decommissioned, July 02 1971; Struck from the Naval Register, 28 February 1975; Sold for scrapping,
1 May 1980 to R. E. Williams, Torrance CA. for $44,000.
Specifications: Displacement 630 t.(lt), 755 t.(fl); Length 172'; Beam 35'; Draft 10'; Speed
14 kts; Complement six officers, 74 enlisted; Armament, as built, one single 40mm gun mount, two .50 cal. machine guns, final
configuration, bow gun replaced by one twin 20mm gun mount, two .50 cal. machine guns remain; Propulsion, four Packard ID1700
diesel engines, two shafts, two controllable pitch propellers.
These new minesweepers were smaller and built primarily of wood , with bronze and stainless (non-magnetic)
steel fittings to minimize their magnetic signature. All of the 1950 era MSOs had UQS-1 mine-locating sonar, later updated
with SQQ-14 sonar. MSOs were capable of sweeping for moored, bottom contact, magnetic and acoustic mines.
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| November Uniform Bravo Whiskey |
WOODEN SHIPS AND IRON MEN a book by CDR David D.Bruhn USN RET.The history of our MSO's from 1953
to 1994. To learn more about this excellent minesweeper book please visit CDR Bruhn's website at the link below.
David Bruhn
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