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U.S.S. FIDELITY
(MSO-443)WOODEN SHIPS IRON MEN
Click to view crew list
USS FIDELITY (MSO-443) - an Aggressive-class minesweeper
In Commission 1955 to 1989MSO-443 Deployments - Major Events
| Add a MSO-443 Shellback Initiation | Add a MSO-443 Deployment - Major Event | ||||
| Month | Year | to | Month | Year | Deployment / Event |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DEC | 1952 | - | Keel Date: 15 DEC 1952 at Higgins Inc. New Orleans Louisiana | ||
| AUG | 1953 | - | Launch Date: 21 AUG 1953 | ||
| JAN | 1955 | - | Commissioned: 19 JAN 1955 | ||
| APR | 1961 | - | APR | 1961 | Bay of Pigs |
| SEP | 1974 | - | SEP | 1974 | Guantanamo Bay |
| MAY | 1989 | - | Decommissioned: 19 MAY 1989 | ||
| JUN | 1995 | - | AUG | 1995 | Sea Trials |
MSO-443 General Specifications
Class: Aggressive-class minesweeper
Complement: 8 Officers and 70 Enlisted
Displacement: 775 tons
Length: 172 feet
Beam: 36 feet
Draft: 10 feet
Final Disposition: Sold for scrapping 10 September 1990
USS FIDELITY (MSO-443)
The
second Fidelity (AM-443) was launched 21 August 1953 by Higgins, Inc., New Orleans, La.; sponsored by Mrs. R. K. Wells; and commissioned 19 January
1955. She was reclassified MSO-443 on 7 February 1955.
Fidelity first arrived at her home port,
Charleston, S.C., 1 May 1955, and through the next year ranged widely in the western
Atlantic, serving with the Mine Countermeasures
Station at Panama City, Fla., participating
in fleet exercises, and calling at Halifax, Nova Scotia. Between 29 August 1957 and 13 February 1958, she served her first tour of duty in the Mediterranean with the 6th Fleet, joining in sweeping
exercises as well as a large scale NATO training operation.
The minesweeper sailed directly to Beirut, Lebanon, on
her 1958 deployment to the Mediterranean, arriving 15
August to support the marines landed a month earlier to stabilize the
critical Middle Eastern situation. After an 8-day visit, she took
up a regular Mediterranean tour schedule, which included visits to ports in
Greece, Crete, and the Balearic Isles before her return to Charleston 3 November.
Between 24 July 1959 and 11 February 1960, Fidelity
completed a third tour of duty in the Mediterranean, returning to
coastwise operations through 1962.
[Note: The above USS FIDELITY (MSO-443) history may, or may not, contain text provided by crew members of the USS FIDELITY (MSO-443), or by other non-crew members, and text from the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships]