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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive
Courtesy of Mike Smolinski


Courtesy of Al Grazevich


Contributed by Mike Smolinski

Affray (MSO-511)



Call sign:
November - Oscar - Alpha - Lima
Acme Class Minesweeper:

  • Laid down 24 August 1955 at Frank L. Sample, Jr., Inc., Boothbay Harbor, Maine
  • Launched 18 December 1956
  • Commissioned 8 December 1958
  • Decommissioned 20 December 1992
  • Struck from the Navy Register 28 June 1993 and laid up at the Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility, Portsmouth, VA
  • Sold for scrap 4 December 2000 to Baltimore Marine Industries of Baltimore, MD.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 633 t.(lt), 750 t.(fl)
  • Length 173'
  • Beam 36'
  • Draft 14'
  • Speed 14 kts.
  • Complement 78
  • Armament: One 40mm gun mount and two .50 cal. machine guns
  • Propulsion: Four Packard V12 diesel engines, two shafts, two controllable pitch propellers.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    USS Affray (MSO 511)
    Affray 59k Dick Lewis
    Affray 56k . Robert Hurst
    Affray 165k . Richard Miller, BMCS, USNR, Ret.
    Affray 206k 23 March 1960
    U.S. Navy photo 1047514 from the U.S. Naval Photographic Center, Anacostia, Washington, DC    		 David Buell
    Affray 79k c. 1961
    U.S. Navy photo from the 1961/1962 edition of "Jane's Fighting Ships"    		 Robert Hurst
    Exploit/Affray 69k 1 December 1982
    A starboard view of the ocean minesweepers USS Exploit (MSO-440) and Affray 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
    Defense Visual Information Center photo DN-ST-83-11429 by JO2 Lance Johnson    		 Defense Visual Information Center
    Exploit/Affray 485k 23 July 1983
    Affray passes the National War College en route to the Washington Navy Yard for a port visit
    Photo by Don S. Montgomery, USN (Ret.)
    National Archives photo 6369730    		 Robert Hurst
    Exploit/Affray 65k 10 December 1992
    Decommissioning Program    		 Jim Carter
    Exploit/Affray 60k
    Exploit/Affray 235k
    Exploit/Affray 229k
    Exploit/Affray 312k
    Exploit/Affray 150k
    Exploit/Affray 87k
    Exploit/Affray 99k
    Affray
    Affray 48k c. December 2000
    Awaiting scrapping at Baltimore, MD    		 Rick Szpyrka, Richard Lewis, and Al Hines
    Exultant/Affray 49k
    Commanding Officers
    01LCDR Charles Irving Williams, USN8 December 1958 - July 1960
    02LT Michael Gaydos, Jr., USNJuly 1960 - 21 September 1961
    03LTJG Richard Dean Van Landingham, USN - USNA Class of 195821 September 1961 - 1 November 1961
    04LCDR John Holden Thorp, USN1 November 1961 - 1 July 1963
    05LCDR Allen Smith, III, USN1 July 1963 - 16 July 1965
    06LCDR Anthony Paul Porcaro, USN16 July 1965 - 17 October 1967
    07LCDR Eugene Matthew Kennedy, USN17 October 1967 - 10 October 1969
    08LCDR Richard William Russell, USN10 October 1969 - 19 November 1970
    09LCDR John Anthony Narciso, USN19 November 1970 - 22 July 1972
    10LCDR Richard Leo Lyons, USN22 July 1972 - 14 July 1974
    11LT George Cocket Harkness, USN14 July 1974 - 6 February 1977
    12LCDR Jeffrey Edwin Callahan, USN - USNA Class of 19656 February 1977 - 23 July 1978
    13LCDR Sheldon Craig Arey, USN - USNA Class of 196723 July 1978 - 14 September 1980
    14CDR Frank Harold Tryon, Jr., USN14 September 1980 - 5 September 1981
    15LCDR Timothy Michael Ahern, USN - USNA Class of 19705 September 1981 - 24 September 1983
    16LCDR John J. Gallagher, USN24 September 1983 - 16 November 1985
    17LCDR Edward Joseph Kujat, USN - USNA Class of 197216 November 1985 - 19 April 1988
    18LCDR Peter Steven Varsanyi, USN - USNA Class of 197619 April 1988 - 10 June 1990
    19CDR George Jeffrey Fullerton, USN10 June 1990 - 15 June 1991
    20LCDR Paul Steven Holmes, USN15 June 1991 - June 1992
    21LCDR Steven Richard Strausser, USNJune 1992 - 20 December 1992
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves and Bill Gonyo
    View the Affray (MSO-511)
    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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