USS Aggressive

USS Aggressive (MSO-422) (originally designated AM-422) was an Agile-class minesweeper. She is the only ship of the United States Navy to be named Aggressive. This was later regarded as a mistake by President John F. Kennedy who stated that the ships should only be employed for "Peace keeping".

USS Aggressive (MSO-422)
History
United States
NameUSS Aggressive
BuilderLuders Marine Construction Co., Stamford, Connecticut
Laid down25 May 1951
Launched4 October 1952
Commissioned25 November 1953, as AM-422
Decommissioned2 July 1971
ReclassifiedMSO-422 (Ocean Minesweeper), 7 February 1955
Stricken28 February 1975
HomeportCharleston, South Carolina
FateSold for scrapping, May 1980
General characteristics
Class and typeAggressive-class minesweeper
Displacement853 long tons (867 t) full load
Length172 ft (52 m)
Beam35 ft (11 m)
Draft10 ft (3.0 m)
Propulsion
Speed14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph)
Complement
  • Active: 7 officers, 70 enlisted
  • Naval Reserve Force: 5 officers, 52 enlisted plus 25 reserve
Sensors and
processing systems
AN/SQQ-14 mine countermeasures sonar
Armament

She was built by Luders Marine Construction Co. of Stamford, Connecticut, sponsored by Mrs. Stephen M. Archer, and commissioned at Brooklyn, New York, in the New York Naval Shipyard.

Service history

For most of 1954, Aggressive remained in the shipyard for alteration. In February 1955, her designation was changed to MSO-422. Her first deployment, immediately afterwards, had her take part in a mine warfare exercise off the south-east coast of the United States. She took part in the landing of American forces during the Lebanon crisis of 1958.

The ship was home ported at Charleston for her whole naval career. She also provided services to the Naval Mine Warfare School, Charleston; Naval Mine Defense Laboratory, Panama City, Florida; Mine Evaluation Detachment, Key West, Florida; and the Naval Ordnance Laboratory Test Facility, Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Aggressive also took part in several fleet exercises and operations along the Atlantic coast and in the Caribbean.

On 1 October 1970, preparations to deactivate the ship were begun, and she was decommissioned on 2 July 1971. Her name was struck from the Navy list on 28 February 1975, and she was sold to R. E. Williams in May 1980.

References

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
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