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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Vigilance (MSF 324)
ex-USS Vigilance (AM-324)



Call sign:
November - Charlie - Quebec - Zulu

ex-HMS Exploit (BAM 24)


Vigilance served the Navies of the United States and the Philippines
Auk Class Minesweeper:

  • Laid down 28 November 1942 for the Royal Navy as HMS Exploit (BAM 24) by the Associated Shipbuilding Corp., Seattle, WA
  • Renamed and reclassified Vigilance (AM 324), 23 January 1943
  • Launched 5 April 1943
  • Commissioned 28 February 1944
    Naval Vessel Register of 1 January 1949 lists plan for decommissioning and placing in reserve as December 1946
  • Decommissioned 30 January 1947
  • Placed in reserve 16 April 1947
  • Reclassified as a Fleet Minesweeper (Steel Hull), MSF-324, 7 February 1955
  • Struck from the Naval Register 1 December 1966
  • Transferred to the Philippines 19 August 1967 and renamed RPS Quezon (PS 70)
  • Decommissioned 1 March 2021
  • Fate unknown.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 890 t.
  • Length 221' 2"
  • Beam 32' 2"
  • Draft 10' 9"
  • Speed 18.1 kts.
  • Complement 105
  • Armament: One 3"/50 dual purpose gun mount, two twin 40mm gun mounts, two 20mm gun mounts, two depth charge tracks and five depth charge projectors
    1967 - Two 3"/50 dual purpose mounts, four 40mm mounts and six 20mm mounts
  • Propulsion: Two 1,766shp General Motors 12-278 diesel electric drive engines, Farrel-Birmingham single reduction gear, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Vigilance (AM 324)
    Vigilance 176k Wearing camouflage 32/1M in Puget Sound, WA on 23 February 1944. The colors are dull black, ocean gray and light gray
    National Archives photos 19-LCM-AM324-1 and 19-LCM-AM324-3    		 Ships of the U.S. Navy in WWII “Dazzle” Camouflage
    Vigilance 130k
    USS Vigilance (AM 324)
    Vigilance 146k c. May 1946
    Napa, CA
    After returning from the South Pacific before her repainting    		 William J. Clark, Ph. D.
    Former crew member
    Vigilance 119k c. July 1946
    Napa, CA
    After her new paint job
    Quezon (PS 70)
    Quezon 42k Philippine Navy photos .
    Quezon 45k
    Vigilance 151k c. 1969
    Philippine Navy photo from the 1969/1970 edition of Jane's Fighting Ships    		 Robert Hurst
    Vigilance & Murrelet 120k The patrol corvettes BRP Rizal (PS-74), ex-USS Murrelet [MSF 372], Quezon, and an unidentified LST, during combined amphibious Exercise Balikatan 2000
    U.S. Navy photo
    Vigilance 270k 7 June 2013
    Moored outboard of BRP Pangasinan (PS 31), ex-PCE-891
    Photo by Mike Baylon    		 Edison Sy
    Vigilance 282k 24 June 2013
    Cebu, Philippines
    Moored outboard of an unidentified patrol ship
    Photo by Mike Baylon
    Quezon 60k c. July 2013
    Cebu, Philippines
    Photo by Edison Sy
    Commanding Officers
    01LCDR William C. Hayes, USNR28 February 1944 - 22 April 1945
    02LT Jackson Leonard Morton, USNR22 April 1945
    03LCDR Carl L. Scherrer, USNR29 April 1946 - 30 December 1946
    04LTJG Francis Thomas Kleber, USN - USNA Class of 194530 December 1946 - 30 January 1947
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves
    View the Vigilance (MSF-324)
    DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Website
    Back to the Main Photo Index Back to the Mine Warfare Ship Photo Index Back to the Fleet Minesweeper (MSF) Photo Index
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    This page created and maintained by Joseph M. Radigan (of blessed memory) & Michael Mohl
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