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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive
Contributed by Mike Smolinski

Exultant (MSO-441)
ex-AM-441



Call sign:
November - Juliet - Quebec - Mike
Aggressive Class Minesweeper:

  • Laid down, 22 May 1952 at Higgins Inc., New Orleans, LA
  • Launched, 6 June 1953
  • Commissioned USS Exultant (AM-441), 31 March 1954
  • Reclassified as an Ocean Minesweeper, MSO-441, 7 February 1955
  • Decommissioned 30 June 1993 and laid up at Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility Portsmouth, VA
  • Struck from the Navy Register 9 March 1994
  • Sold for scrap 4 December 2000 to Baltimore Marine Industries, 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 Waukesha Motors Co. diesel engines, controllable pitch propellers, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    USS Exultant (MSO 441)
    MINDIV-82 120k Ship's of Mine Division Eighty Two prepare to leave Charleston, SC for a Mediterranean deployment. MINDIV-82 ship's from left to right are: Fearless (MSO 442), Avenge (MSO 423), Exultant, the Belgium Minesweeper F. Bovesse (M 909) (ex-MSO-516), and Fidelity (MSO 443)
    Photo courtesy of Leroy D. "Mo" Mahoney
    Official U.S. Navy Photo    		 Belgium MSO Web Site
    Exultant 115k Jerry Crow, ETR2 Crew member 1973/74
    Exultant 75k Richard Miller, BMCS, USNR, Ret.
    Exultant 69k c. 1956
    Valletta, Malta
    Photo by A. & J. Pavia from the 1956/1957 edition of Jane's Fighting Ships    		 Robert Hurst
    Exultant 100k c. mid-1960s
    U.S. Navy photo    		 Robert M. Cieri
    Exultant 355k c. 1969 Leland Rogers, RM3, Crew member 1969/70
    Exultant 239k c. 1969/70
    Highlining with Fearless (MSO 442)
    Exultant 386k 21 September 1971
    Departing La Spezia, Italy    		 Carlo Martinelli
    Exultant 110k c. 1980s
    Wilmington NC    		 Al Hines
    Exultant 388k 1 January 1983
    U.S. Navy photo DN-SC-83-09047    		 Robert Hurst
    Exultant 312k c. 1984 - 1986
    Welcome Aboard pamphlet    		 Robert M. Cieri
    Exultant 374k
    Exultant 320k
    Exultant 355k
    Exultant
    Exultant/Affray 48k c. December 2000
    Awaiting scrapping at Baltimore, MD    		 Save An MSO Website
    Rick Szpyrka, Richard Lewis, and Al Hines
    Exultant/Affray 49k
    Commanding Officers
    01LT Robert Turner Gregory, USN - USNA Class of 194422 June 1954 - 30 March 1955
    02LCDR John Franklin Hawkins, USN30 March 1955 - 5 April 1956
    03LCDR Alan Lee Peek, USN5 April 1956 - 13 July 1957
    04LT Alva Manly Bowen, Jr., USN13 July 1957 - 10 July 1958
    05LT Samuel Lawall Doak, USN10 July 1958 - 8 July 1959
    06LCDR Gordon Edward McPadden, USN - USNA Class of 19478 July 1959 - 31 July 1960
    07LCDR Murray Alan Hess, USN31 July 1960 - 13 April 1962
    08LCDR Daniel Thomas Bridge, USN13 April 1962 - 27 September 1963
    09CDR Robert Malcolm Marshall, USN27 September 1963 - 24 May 1965
    10LT George Arnold Overstreet, USN24 May 1965 - 5 May 1967
    11LT Weldon James Bowling, USN5 May 1967 - 30 August 1968
    12LT Lee Neal Schofield, USN30 August 1968 - 20 March 1970
    13LCDR Jay Phillip Dorfer, USN20 Match 1970 - 4 June 1971
    14LT Ronald William Harding, USN4 June 1971 - 11 August 1972
    15LT Richard Martin Currier, USN11 August 1972 - 3 March 1974
    16LT Thomas Stephen O'Keefe, Jr., USN - USNA Class of 19663 March 1974 - 10 April 1976
    17LT Charles Thomas Ristoricelli, USN10 April 1976 - 8 July 1977
    18LCDR Howard David Kirkpatrick, USN - USNA Class of 19658 July 1977 - December 1979
    19CDR John Guy Strohaker, USNDecember 1979 - 1 May 1982
    20CDR Philip Francis Shullo, Jr., USN1 May 1982 - 14 January 1984
    21LCDR Christopher Edward Weaver, USN - USNA Class of 1971
    Awarded the Distinguished Service Medal, Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Meritorious Service Medal, Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, and Combat Action Ribbon - Retired as Rear Admiral    		14 January 1984 - 19 July 1986
    22LCDR Peter Wynkoop, Jr., USN19 July 1986 - 20 February 1988
    23LCDR William Thomas Bassett, USN20 February 1988 - 15 March 1988
    24CDR John Kirkland Ross, USN15 March 1988 - 19 September 1988
    25CDR James Joseph Lobue, USN19 September 1988 - 24 October 1988
    26LCDR Donald Francis Dalton, USN24 October 1988 - 6 January 1989
    27LCDR James Byron Campbell, USN - USNA Class of 19746 January 1989 - 15 January 1989
    28CDR John Kirkland Ross, USN15 January 1989 - 28 April 1989
    29LCDR James Lonail Clark, USN28 April 1989 - 19 March 1991
    30LCDR Steven Eugene Lehr, USN19 March 1991 - 30 September 1991
    31LCDR Elliot Powell, Jr., USN30 September 1991 - 21 February 1992
    32LCDR Murray Alan Hess, Jr., USN21 February 1992 - 30 June 1993
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves, Joseph M. Radigan (of blessed memory), Peter M. Leenhouts and Bill Gonyo
    View the Exultant (MSO 441)
    DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Website
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    102 Minesweepers (MSO) Oceangoing Minesweepers
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