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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Bittern (MSC 69)
ex-AMS-69


Bittern was built for France.
Adjutant Class Motor Minesweeper:

  • Laid down in 1952 as Bittern (AMS 69) by Frank L. Samples, Jr., Inc., Boothbay Harbor, ME
  • Launched 15 February 1952
  • Completed 11 March 1953 and transferred to France as Acacia (M 638)
  • Commissioned 14 June 1953
  • Reclassified by U. S. Navy as a Coastal Minesweeper, MSC-69, 7 February 1955
  • Decommissioned in December 1983
  • Fate unknown.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 405 t.
  • Length 144'
  • Beam 27'
  • Draft 9'
  • Speed 14 kts
  • Complement 40
  • Armament: Two 20mm mounts
  • Propulsion: Two 880bhp General Motors 8-268A diesel engines, Snow and Knobstedt single reduction gear, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Bittern (AMS 69)
    AMS-69
    110506904    		 2.88k Launching of the Bittern (AMS-69) at Boothbay Harbor, Maine, 29 January 1952. Record Group 19: Records of the Bureau of Ships
    Series: Photographs of U.S. and Foreign Naval Vessels
    National Archives Identifier:6933783
    Photo courtesy of catalog.archives.gov
    AMS-69
    110506906    		 2.11k Christening of the Bittern (AMS-69), 29 January 1952. Record Group 19: Records of the Bureau of Ships
    Series: Photographs of U.S. and Foreign Naval Vessels
    National Archives Identifier:6933782
    Photo courtesy of catalog.archives.gov
    AMS-69
    110506907    		 3.10k Sponsor Mrs. Wilbur M. Fowden, sponsor of the Bittern (AMS-69), 29 January 1952. Record Group 19: Records of the Bureau of Ships
    Series: Photographs of U.S. and Foreign Naval Vessels
    National Archives Identifier:6933780
    Photo courtesy of catalog.archives.gov
    AMS-69
    110506910    		 2.61k Sponsors Party at the Bittern (AMS-69) launching, 29 January 1952. Record Group 19: Records of the Bureau of Ships
    Series: Photographs of U.S. and Foreign Naval Vessels
    National Archives Identifier:6933781
    Photo courtesy of catalog.archives.gov
    AMS-69
    110506908    		 2.31k Progress photo of the Bittern (AMS-69), 10 July 1952. Record Group 19: Records of the Bureau of Ships
    Series: Photographs of U.S. and Foreign Naval Vessels
    National Archives Identifier:6933835
    Photo courtesy of catalog.archives.gov
    AMS-70
    110506900    		 2.94k Left Chukor (AMS-70), right, Bittern (AMS-69).
    Progress photo, Boothbay Harbor, Maine, 5 January 1953.     		Record Group 19: Records of the Bureau of Ships
    Series: Photographs of U.S. and Foreign Naval Vessels
    National Archives Identifier:6933841
    Photo courtesy of catalog.archives.gov
    AMS-69
    110506902    		 3.13k Bittern (AMS-69) inclining experiment, Boothbay Harbor, Maine, 22 February 1953. Record Group 19: Records of the Bureau of Ships
    Series: Photographs of U.S. and Foreign Naval Vessels
    National Archives Identifier:6933843
    Photo courtesy of catalog.archives.gov
    AMS-69
    110506905    		 2.88k Launching of the Bittern (AMS-69) at sea, 3 March 1953. Record Group 19: Records of the Bureau of Ships
    Series: Photographs of U.S. and Foreign Naval Vessels
    National Archives Identifier:6933830
    Photo courtesy of catalog.archives.gov
    AMS-69
    110506909    		 2.60k Main deck of the Bittern (AMS-69), 12 March 1953. Record Group 19: Records of the Bureau of Ships
    Series: Photographs of U.S. and Foreign Naval Vessels
    National Archives Identifier:6933819
    Photo courtesy of catalog.archives.gov
    AMS-69
    110506903    		 2.76k Bittern (AMS-69) radio room, Boothbay Harbor, Maine, 12 March 1953. Record Group 19: Records of the Bureau of Ships
    Series: Photographs of U.S. and Foreign Naval Vessels
    National Archives Identifier:6933809
    Photo courtesy of catalog.archives.gov
    AMS-70
    110507000    		 3.20k Chukor (AMS-70), left, AMS-71 right. The AMS-69 is behind them.
    Progress photo, Boothbay Harbor, Maine, 6 March 1953.     		Record Group 19: Records of the Bureau of Ships
    Series: Photographs of U.S. and Foreign Naval Vessels
    National Archives Identifier:6933853
    Photo courtesy of catalog.archives.gov
    Bittern 104k Namesake: Bittern is a bird of the heron family Tommy Trampp
    Acacia (M 638)
    MSC-69 50k c. 1954
    Acacia still wearing her U.S. Navy hull number    		 Robert Hurst
    There is no DANFS History currently available for Bittern (MSC 69)
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