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WOODEN SHIPS & IRON MEN
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| Courtesy of robert McDougal |
Aggressive Class Minesweeper: Laid down 8 June 1953 as (AM-460)
at Higgins Inc,.Shipyard, New Orleans, LA; Launched 15 October 1954; Reclassified (MSO-460), 7 February 1955; Commissioned
USS Notable (MSO-460), 8 June 1955; Decommissioned 1970 for modernization at Todd shipyard Brooklyn,New York.Contract terminated
Oct 16 for the convenience of the goverment.; Struck from the Naval Register 1 February 1971; Final Disposition,towed to Philadelphia
Naval Shipyard and sold for scrapping 30 August 1971 to Charles Gural, Rehway NJ for $2,800.
Specifications: Displacement 775 t; Length 172';
Beam 35'; Draft 12'; Speed 14 kts; Complement 8 Officers, 70 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, replaced by four Waukasha Motors Co. diesels, 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.
| CALL SIGN |
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| November Mike Yankee Delta |
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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