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

Oriole (MHC-55)



Call sign:
November - Romeo - Bravo - India
Osprey Class Coastal Minehunter: Laid down, 3 August 1991; Launched, 22 May 1993; Commissioned 16 September 1995; Decommissioned 30 June 2006, struck from the Navy register and laid up in the Beaumont Reserve Fleet, Beaimont, TX.

Specifications: Displacement 895 Metric Tons; Length 188' ; Beam 36', Draft (Navigation) 9' 2"; Draft (Keel) 7'; Speed 10k; Complement five Officers, 48 Enlisted; Armament two .50 cal. machine guns; Propulsion two Isotta Fraschini ID36 SS8V-AM diesel engines, two Voith Schneider vertical axis, cycloidal, controllable pitch propellers, Electrical Systems two ship service diesel generators, one ship service/emergency diesel generator; Monocoque Design glass reinforced plastic monohull design. No longitudinal or transverse hull framing. The skin carries all the stresses. The vessel is flexible under shock. Machinery is supported by cradles from the main deck; Sensors/Navigation Systems AN/SYQ-13 Navigation, Command & Control System, AN/SPS-64(V)9 surface search radar, AN/SPA-25G radar display; AN/UQN-4A sonar sounding set, AN/WSN-2 stabilized gyrocompass, Hyper-fix radio navigation system, Plotting table; Loran C, Military global positioning system (GPS), AN/BQH-7A expendable bathythermograph set; Mine Countermeasures Systems AN/SLQ-48(V)2 mine neutralization system (MNS), AN/SQQ-32 minehunting sonar.

Click on thumbnail
for full size image		 Size Image Description Source
Oriole 142k U.S. Navy Photo from Commander Mine Warfare Command Fabio Peņa
Oriole 118k c. February 2003
Off Corpus Christ, TX		 LCDR Rich Dodson, USN
Commanding Officer, USS Oriole
Oriole 79k c. February 2003
Off Corpus Christ, TX		 LCDR Rich Dodson, USN
Commanding Officer, USS Oriole
Oriole 62k c. February 2003
Off Corpus Christ, TX		 LCDR Rich Dodson, USN
Commanding Officer, USS Oriole
There is no DANFS History currently available for Oriole (MHC 55)
Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
Naval Minewarfare Association
Association of Minemen
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This page created by Gary P. Priolo and maintained by Joe Radigan
© 2006 Gary P. Priolo © 1996 - 2006 NavSource Naval History. All Rights Reserved.