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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive
Courtesy of Paul Haaze

Exploit (MSO 440)
ex-AM-440



Call sign:
November - Romeo - Echo - Bravo
Aggressive Class Minesweeper:

  • Laid down 28 December 1951 at Higgins Inc., New Orleans, LA
  • Launched 10 April 1953
  • Commissioned USS Exploit (AM-440), 31 March 1954
  • Reclassified as an Ocean Minesweeper, MSO-440, 7 February 1955
  • Decommissioned 16 December 1993 and laid up in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet, Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility, Portsmouth, VA
  • Struck from the Navy Register 28 March 1994
  • Sold for scrap 4 December 2000 to Baltimore Marine Industries of Baltimore, MD.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 775 t.
  • Length 172'
  • Beam 35'
  • Draft 12'
  • Speed 14 kts.
  • Complement 78
  • Armament: As built, one 40mm gun mount and 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.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    USS Exploit (MSO 440)
    Exploit 213k - 102 Minesweeper
    Web Site
    Dick Lewis
    Exploit 50k - .
    Exploit/Affray 69k A starboard view of the ocean minesweepers Exploit and Affray (MSO-511) moored at Naval Station Newport, RI. The minesweepers are part of the Naval Reserve Mobilization Forces. The Newport Bridge (renamed Pell Bridge) is in
    the background.
    U.S. Navy photo DNST8311429 by JO2 Lance Johnson    		 Defense Visual Information Center
    Exploit 118k U.S. Navy photo Robert M. Cieri
    Acadia 87k USS Arcadia (AD 23); Hawkins (DDR 873); McNair (DD 679); Exploit; Bulwark (MSO 425); Aggressive (MSO 422) and Bold (MSO 424).
    U.S. Navy photo from the January 1956 edition of All Hands magazine    		 Joe Radigan
    Exploit 420k Original photo: U.S. Navy photo from the March 1990 edition of All Hands magazine
    Replacement photo: 9 May 1989
    Passing Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, DC as she transits the Anacostia River
    U.S. Navy photo DN-ST-89-08169    		 Oroginal photo: Joe Radigan
    Replacement photo: Bill Gonyo
    Exploit
    Exploit 47k Awaiting scrapping at Baltimore Marine Industries, Baltimore, MD Save An MSO Web Site
    Rick Szpyrka
    Commanding Officers
    01LCDR Edward M. Akin, USN31 March 1954 - 31 December 1955
    02LCDR Clarence E. Thomas, USN31 December 1955 - 1957
    03LCDR Charles Lawrence Gott, USN1957 - 1960
    04LCDR James Griffin Everett, USN1960 - 1962
    05LCDR Comer Hugh Bird, Jr., USN1962 - 1964
    06LCDR Eugene Russell Walker, USN1964 - 1967
    07LCDR Joseph C. Woolman, USN1967 - 1969
    08LCDR James Allen Lindsey, USN1969 - 1970
    09LT Peter Keith Glasier, USN1970 - December 1972
    10LT William Dillard (Wild Bill) Center, USNDecember 1972 - 1974
    11LT William Chapel Rogers, III, USN1974 - 1975
    12LCDR Michael Oscar Borns, USN1975 - 27 August 1976
    13LCDR Douglas M. Armstrong, USN27 August 1976 - 1977
    14LT Bernard M. Bianco, USN1977 - 1978
    15LCDR David Watson, USN1978 - 2 June 1979
    16LCDR Dale Raymond Dunn, USN2 June 1979 - 1981
    17LCDR Herbert Charles Kaler, USN1981 - 5 February 1983
    18LCDR Joe R. Coffer, USN5 February 1983 - 15 November 1984
    19LCDR Johnnie F. Nemec, USN15 November 1984 - April 1987
    20LCDR Martin Edward Torrey, USNApril 1987 - 11 March 1989
    21CDR William Flemming Barns, USN11 March 1989 - 15 January 1991
    22LCDR Robin M. Watters, USNR - Retired as RADM15 January 1991 - 31 January 1991
    23LCDR Steven Edward Thornton, USN31 January 1991 - 30 August 1991
    24LCDR Michael Wayne Reedy, USN30 August 1991 - 15 December 1991
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves
    View the Exploit (MSO-440)
    DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Website
    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    Navy MSO Association Email Addresses
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    102 Minesweepers (MSO) Oceangoing Minesweepers
    Naval Minewarfare Association
    Association of Minemen
    Back To The Main Photo Index Back To the Mine Warfare Ship Photo Index Back to the Ocean Minesweeper (MSO) Photo Index
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    This page created by Gary P. Priolo and maintained by Joseph M. Radigan