USS Conflict (AM-426)

USS Conflict (AM-426/MSO-426) was an Agile-class minesweeper in the United States Navy.

USS Conflict (MSO-426) underway, circa 1954.
History
United States
NameUSS Conflict
BuilderFulton Shipyard, Antioch, California
Laid down13 August 1951
Launched16 December 1952
Commissioned23 March 1954, as AM-426
Decommissioned12 January 1973
ReclassifiedMSO-426 (Ocean Minesweeper), 7 February 1955
FateSold for scrapping, 1973
General characteristics
Class and typeAgile-class minesweeper
Displacement630 long tons (640 t)
Length172 ft (52 m)
Beam36 ft (11 m)
Draft10 ft (3.0 m)
Propulsion
Speed16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph)
Complement72
Armament1 × 40 mm gun mount

Conflict was laid down on 13 August 1951 at Fulton Shipyard, Antioch, California. Launched on 16 December 1952, she was commissioned on 23 March 1954. She was later redesignated as an Ocean Minesweeper MSO-426 on 7 February 1955.

Service history

Conflict operated on the west coast between 12 April 1954 and 4 January 1956, conducting acoustic ranging experiments, noise reduction experiments, and removing practice mine fields. She was reclassified MSO-426 on 7 February 1955.

She sailed from Long Beach, California, 4 January 1956 for Pearl Harbor, where between 15 January and 20 February, she conducted underwater photography operations. She returned to Long Beach 1 March, and during April conducted shock tests off San Clemente Island, California. Conflict joined harbor defense exercises at San Diego, California, and carried out other local operations until 5 August 1957, when she sailed from Long Beach for Pearl Harbor, Midway Island, and Yokosuka, Japan, arriving on 31 August.

She operated in Japanese waters, called at Hong Kong, and joined ships of the Republic of China in minesweeping exercises off Formosa, returning to Long Beach 1 March for west coast operations during the remainder of the year. She returned to duty in the Far East on 14 March 1960, calling at Manila, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Japanese ports before sailing for the west coast on 24 June. Local operations were resumed through the remainder of 1960.

Decommissioning

Conflict was decommissioned in June 1972. Struck from the Naval Register, (date unknown), and sold for scrapping on January 12 1973 to Al Kidman, Wilmington, California, for $32,000.

References

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

  • Photo gallery of USS Conflict (AM-426/MSO-426) at NavSource Naval History
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.