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UPDATED:JUN 01 2009
WOODEN SHIPS & IRON MEN
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| From Kenneth Donnel CM1 |
Aggressive Class Minesweeper: Laid down 9 November 1951 at Wilmington Boat Works, Inc.,
Wilmington, CA; Launched 22 November 1953; Commissioned USS Loyalty (AM-457), 11 June 1954; Reclassified as an Ocean
Minesweeper, MSO-457, 7 February 1955; Struck from the Naval Register 1 July 1972; Sold for scrapping 15 January
1974, by the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service to Robert D. Perry, Vallejo, CA for $32,223.
Specifications: Displacement 630 t.(lt), 755 t.(fl); Length 172'; Beam 35'; Draft 10'; Speed
14 kts; Complement 6 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.
| CALL SIGN |
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| November Juliette Uniform Romeo |
WOODEN SHIPS AND IRON MEN a book by CDR David D.Bruhn USN RET. A complete 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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