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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

AM / MSO-440 Exploit


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 ; Redesignated as an Ocean Minesweeper MSO-440, 7 February 1955; Decommissioned, 16 December 1993; Laid up in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet, Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility, Portsmouth, VA; Struck from the Naval Register, 28 March 1994; Sold, 4 December 2000 to Baltimore Marine Industries, Baltimore, MD for scrapping.

Specifications: Displacement 775 t; Length 172'; Beam 35'; Draft 12'; Speed 14 kts; Complement eight officers, 70 enlisted; Armament, as built, one single 40mm gun mount, 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.
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Size Image Description Source
Exploit 213k - 102 Minesweeper
Web Site
Dick Lewis
Exploit 50k - .
Exploit/Affray 69k A starboard view of the ocean minesweepers USS Exploit (MSO-440) and USS Affray (MSO-511) moored at Naval Station Newport, RI. The minesweepers are part of the Naval Reserve Mobilization Forces. The Mount Hope Bridge is in
the background.
US Navy Photo DNST8311429
by JO2 Lance Johnson
Defense Visual Information Center
Exploit 47k Awaiting scrapping at Baltimore Marine Industries, Baltimore, MD Save An MSO Web Site
Rick Szpyrka

View the Exploit (AM/MSO-440)
DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Web Site. The main archive for the DANFS Online Project.

Crew Contact And Reunion Information
U.S.Navy Memorial Foundation
Fleet Reserve Association

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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