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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Inaugural (MSF 242)
ex-AM-242



Call sign:
November - Foxtrot - Sierra - Delta
Admirable Class Minesweeper:

  • Laid down 22 May 1944 at Winslow Marine Railway and Shipbuilding Co., Winslow, Washington
  • Launched 1 October 1944
  • Commissioned USS Inaugural (AM-242), 30 December 1944
    Naval Vessel Register of 1 January 1949 lists plan for decommissioning and placing in reserve as December 1945
  • Decommissioned 9 September 1946 at Galveston, TX and laid up at the Orange, TX Group, Atlantic Reserve Fleet
  • Reclassified as a Fleet Minewseeper (Steel Hull), MSF-242, 7 February 1955
  • Struck from the Naval Register 1 March 1967
  • Became a museum hulk at St. Louis, MO in 1968
  • Broke free from her moorings 1 August 1993 and floated downriver, then sank 1 September 1993 after the Coast Guard rescued her from being adrift in the Mississippi River.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 945 t.(fl)
  • Length 184' 6"
  • Beam 33'
  • Draft 9' 9"
  • Speed 14.8 kts.
  • Complement 104
  • Armament: One 3"/50 cal. dual purpose mount and two 40mm gun mount, six 20mm gun mounts, one depth charge projector (hedgehog), four depth charge projectors (K-guns) and two depth
    charge tracks
  • Propulsion: Two 1,710shp Cooper Bessemer GSB-8 diesel engines, National Supply Co. single reduction gear, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    USS Inaugural (AM-242)
    Winslow
    110224242    		 555k Minesweeper cradle, 1945.
    Winslow Marine Railway and Shipbuilding Co., Winslow, Washington.
    The Inaugural (AM-242) was built here.    		 Photo & text courtesy of bainbridgereview.com
    Inaugural 173k Wearing camouflage 32/22D in Puget Sound, WA probably in January 1945
    National Archives photo BS 77483 from the Bureau of Ships collection    		 Ships of the U.S. Navy in WWII “Dazzle” Camouflage
    Inaugural 166k Original photo: c. 1945
    Puget Sound, WA
    U.S. Navy photo
    Replacement photo: Wearing camouflage 32/22D in Puget Sound probably in January 1945
    National Archives photo BS 77484 from the Bureau of Ships collection    		 Original photo: Bill Cox
    Replacement photo: Ships of the U.S. Navy in WWII “Dazzle” Camouflage
    Inaugural 45k c. Autumn 1945
    Sasebo Harbor, Japan    		 Jared Johnson
    Inaugural 72k c. March 1946
    Terminal Island, CA    		 Original photo: Robert Briggen
    USS Inaugural (AM-242)
    Website
    Replacement photo: Jared Johnson
    Museum Ship Inaugural
    Inaugural 52k Saint Louis, MO
    Museum ship Inaugural
    Photo courtesy of Kevin Saff    		 Robert Hurst
    Inaugural 159k c. 1974
    Aground at St. Louis    		 Robert Briggen
    USS Inaugural (AM-242)
    Website
    Inaugural 34k 3 August 1984
    Photos taken from the cruise boat Huck Finn    		 Tommy Trampp
    Inaugural 69k
    Inaugural 55k c. 1988
    As a tourist attraction at Saint Louis, MO    		 Jared Johnson
    Inaugural 64k Coast Guard photo prior to flood Robert Briggen
    USS Inaugural (AM-242)
    Website
    Inaugural 25k Present sad fate of Inaugural
    Inaugural 101k c. 2012 Gerhard Muller-Debus
    Inaugural 330k 1 August 2012
    Photo Cadastral    		 Robert Hurst
    Commanding Officers
    01LT John Henry Pace, USNR30 December 1944 - 31 August 1945
    Courtesy of Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves and R. A. Moody
    View the Inaugural (MSF 242)
    DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Website
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