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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive



Left patch courtesy of Don McGrogan, right patch courtesy of Mike Smolinski

Aggressive (MSO 422)
ex-AM-422



Call sign:
November - Foxtrot - Papa - Zulu

Aggressive Class Minesweeper:

  • Laid down 25 May 1951 at Luders Marine Construction Co., Stamford, Connecticut
  • Launched 4 October 1952
  • Commissioned USS Aggressive (AM-422), 25 November 1953 at Brooklyn Naval Station, NY
  • Reclassified as an Ocean Minesweeper, MSO-422, 7 February 1955
  • Decommissioned 2 July 1971 and laid up in the Reserve Fleet
  • Struck from the Navy Register 28 February 1975
  • Sold for scrap 1 May 1980 to R. E. Williams of Torrance, CA for $44,000.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 630 t.(lt), 755 t.(fl)
  • Length 172'
  • Beam 35'
  • Draft 10'
  • Speed 14 kts.
  • Complement 80
  • Armament: As built, one 40mm gun mount and two .50 cal machine guns; Final configuration, 40mm gun replaced by one twin 20mm gun mount, two .50 cal. machine guns remain
  • Propulsion: Four Packard ID1700 diesel engines, two shafts, two controllable pitch propellers.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image
    Size Image Description Source
    Aggressive (AM 422)
    Aggressive
    110242222
    721k The U.S. Navy minesweeper Aggressive (MSO-422) at Luders Marine Construction Co Stamford Connecticut. Workers for Luders Marine Construction in Stamford prepare to launch the newly built minesweeper Aggressive in the 1950s, when the Navy realized it had none to protect U.S. ships during the Korean War. Luders built eight of the much-needed minesweepers in its yard on the South End. Photo courtesy of stamfordadvocate.com
    Aggressive 337k Under construction
    National Archives photos ARC 6932529, ARC 6932526, ARC 6932528 and ARC 6932527 from the Bureau of Ships Collection
    Mike Smolinski
    Aggressive 278k
    Aggressive 320k
    Aggressive 257k
    Aggressive 280k 4 October 1952
    Christening party
    National Archives photo ARC 6932546 from the Bureau of Ships Collection
    Aggressive 346k 4 October 1952
    Mrs. Stephen M. Archer, Ships Sponsor
    National Archives photo ARC 6932547 from the Bureau of Ships Collection
    Aggressive 533k 4 October 1952
    Christened
    National Archives photo ARC 6932548 from the Bureau of Ships Collection
    Aggressive 459k 4 October 1952
    Sliding down building ways
    National Archives photo ARC 6932551 from the Bureau of Ships Collection
    Aggressive 441k Fitting out
    National Archives photos ARC 6932552, ARC 6932537 and ARC 6932553 from the Bureau of Ships Collection
    Aggressive 275k
    Aggressive 302k
    Aggressive 267k Sea trials
    National Archives photos ARC 6932542, ARC 6932541 ARC 6932543, ARC 6932544, and ARC 6932545 from the Bureau of Ships Collection
    Aggressive 324k
    Aggressive 307k
    Aggressive 306k
    Aggressive 319k
    USS Aggressive (MSO 422)
    Aggressive 289k 102 Minesweepers Website
    Dick Lewis
    Aggressive 92k Joe Radigan
    Agile 257k Undated post card
    Caption on back reads:
    U.S. Naval Station Charleston, SC
    Atlantic Fleet Minesweepers of Mine Division 83, USS Bulwark (MSO 425), USS Agile (MSO 421), USS Aggressive (MSO 422), and USS Bold (MSO 424), participate in Change of Command Ceremony for Commander Mine Squadron 8
    Tommy Trampp
    Aggressive 111k U.S. Navy Photo from the June 1955 edition of All Hands magazine Joe Radigan
    Acadia 87k USS Arcadia (AD 23); Hawkins (DDR 873); McNair (DD 679); Exploit (MSO 440); Bulwark (MSO 425); Aggressive and Bold (MSO 424)
    U.S. Navy Photo from the January 1956 edition of All Hands magazine
    Aggressive 111k c. 1961
    Departing her homeport of Naval Station Charleston, SC while assigned to MINEDIV 83
    U.S. Navy photo
    Robert M. Cieri

    Commanding Officers
    01LT Lawrence Welsford Kelley, USN25 November 1953 - 1956
    02LCDR Thomas Avery Cosgrove, USN1959
    03LCDR Joel Lambert, Jr., USNJune 1960
    04LCDR John Victor Cricchi, USN - USNA Class of 1953April 1962
    05LCDR Marvin Lloyd White, USN3 October 1964 - 2 September 1966
    06LT Charles Louis Miller, USN2 September 1966
    07LT Freddie Louis Boswell, Jr., USN7 September 1966
    08LT Howard Edwin Tittle, USN13 January 1969
    09LCDR Michael Stanley Meyers, USN5 February 1969 - 26 October 1970
    10LT Joseph Francis Hillery Neal, USN - USNA Class of 196426 October 1970 - 2 July 1971
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves

    View the Aggressive (AM 422)
    DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Website
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    102 Minesweepers (MSO) Oceangoing Minesweepers

    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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