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UPDATED:JUN 01 2009
WOODEN SHIPS & IRON MEN
Aggressive Class Minesweeper: Laid down, 1 August 1951 by the Luders Marine Construction
Co., Stamford, Conn; Launched, 15 March 1953; Commissioned USS Avenge (AM-423), 13 May 1954; Reclassified as a Ocean Minesweeper
MSO-423, 14 January 1955; Heavily damaged by fire of unknown origin at Bethlehem Steel Corp., Fort McHenry Shipyard, Baltimore,
Md., 7 September 1969; Decommissioned, 31 January 1970; Struck from the Naval Register, 1 February 1970; Final Disposition,
sold for scrapping, 6 October 1969 to Steve B Clemons, Miami Shores, FL for $2,789.
Specifications: Displacement 630 t.(lt), 755 t.(fl); Length 172'; Beam 35'; Draft 10'; Speed
14 kts; Complement six Officers, 74 Enlisted; Armament, one single 40mm gun mount, two .50 cal. machine guns; 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 Charlie Alpha India |
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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