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FIGHTING SHIPS OF THE WORLD
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
MINE WARFARE SHIPS
AVENGER minesweepers - minehunters (1987 - 1994)


Photo



Guardian 2002

Ships


No Name Yard No Builder Laid down Launched Comm Fate
MCM1 Avenger   Peterson Builders, Sturgeon Bay 3.6.1983 15.6.1985 12.9.1987 stricken 9.2014
MCM2 Defender   Marinette Marine 1.12.1983 4.4.1987 30.9.1989 stricken 10.2014
MCM3 Sentry   Peterson Builders, Sturgeon Bay 8.10.1984 20.9.1986 2.9.1989 in service (2019)
MCM4 Champion   Marinette Marine 28.6.1984 15.4.1989 8.2.1991 in service (2019)
MCM5 Guardian   Peterson Builders, Sturgeon Bay 8.5.1985 20.6.1987 16.12.1989 wrecked 17.1.2013
MCM6 Devastator   Peterson Builders, Sturgeon Bay 9.2.1987 11.6.1988 6.10.1990 in service (2019)
MCM7 Patriot   Marinette Marine 31.3.1987 15.5.1990 18.10.1991 in service (2019)
MCM8 Scout   Peterson Builders, Sturgeon Bay 8.6.1987 20.5.1989 15.12.1990 in service (2019)
MCM9 Pioneer   Peterson Builders, Sturgeon Bay 5.6.1989 25.8.1990 7.12.1992 in service (2019)
MCM10 Warrior   Peterson Builders, Sturgeon Bay 25.9.1989 8.12.1990 7.4.1993 in service (2019)
MCM11 Gladiator   Peterson Builders, Sturgeon Bay 7.5.1990 29.6.1991 18.9.1993 in service (2019)
MCM12 Ardent   Peterson Builders, Sturgeon Bay 22.10.1990 26.11.1991 18.2.1994 in service (2019)
MCM13 Dextrous   Peterson Builders, Sturgeon Bay 11.3.1991 20.6.1992 9.7.1994 in service (2019)
MCM14 Chief   Peterson Builders, Sturgeon Bay 19.8.1991 12.6.1993 5.11.1994 in service (2019)


Technical data


Displacement standard, t

1145

Displacement full, t

1333

Length, m

64.8 wl 68.4 oa

Breadth, m

11.9

Draught, m

3.42 (hull)

No of shafts

2

Machinery

MCM1, 2: 4 Waukesha L-1616 diesels

MCM3-14: 4 Isotta-Fraschini ID36SS 6V-AM diesels

Power, h. p.

MCM1, 2: 2600

MCM3-14: 2280

Max speed, kts

13.5

Fuel, t

diesel oil

Endurance, nm(kts) 
Armament

2 x 1 - 12.7/90, 2 SLQ-48 MNS UUV, SLQ-37(v)3 minesweeping array (A Mk 2, A Mk 4(V), A Mk 6(B) acoustic and M Mk 5, M Mk 6, M Mk 7 magnetic minesweeping arrays), SLQ-38 (Type 0 Size 1) mechanical minesweeping gear, 2 RIBs for mine-disposal divers

Electronic equipment

MCM1-5: SPS-66(v)9, SPS-55 radars, SQQ-30, WQN-1 sonars, SYQ-13 CCS

MCM6-14: SPS-66(v)9, SPS-55 radars, SQQ-32(v)3, WQN-1 sonars, SYQ-13 CCS

Complement

83



Graphics


<i>Guardian </i>2002
Guardian 2002


Project history

These are wooden-hulled craft with glass fibre superstructures. Reportedly they suffered from severe electromagnetic interference problems, and the hull had to be lengthened 2.1m due to changes in weight. There were also engine problems (Avenger had hers installed wrong way round). The MCMs are lineal descendants of the earlier MSOs. They carry both a mine neutralization vehicle (SLQ-48) and standard influence and mechanical sweeps.

From the late 1960s onwards there were several projects for more or less sophisticated new minesweepers, as mine countermeasures technology became more and more elaborate. By the early 1980s it was primarily a matter of locating mines on the seabed, using high-definition sonar (currently SQQ-14), and then destroying mines one by one (minehunting). Success requires, among other things, a very high degree of navigational accuracy. Meanwhile, the function of the minesweepers has been a matter of some controversy. For example, with the appearance of deep-water ASW mines such as CAPTOR, there was a call for deep-water sweepers particularly adapted to keeping the approaches to ballistic submarine bases clear of Soviet mines. On the other hand, the Soviet fleet continued to threaten US ports and coastal waters with more conventional forms of mine warfare; and there is still the threat of mining to stop amphibious assaults - a threat which will abate somewhat as the United States shifts to air-cushion vehicles for such assaults.

A new programme for mine countermeasure (MCM) ship construction began in the 1970s, and the CNO approved a 1640t, 80.8m, 18kt ship m November 1976. In early 1977 nineteen were planned for construction in FY79-FY82. Its primary purpose would have been to counter deep-water ASW mines, and it was abandoned as too expensive. A new design, closely based on that of the existing ocean minesweeper (MSO), was substituted. The first unit, USS Avenger (MCM1), was ordered on 29 June 1982, under the FY82 programme.

The MCM was envisaged as the high end of a high-low mix of minesweepers, the lower end of which would consist of a combination of coastal minehunters (MSH) and mobilised civilian craft as well as rninesweeping helicopters. As in the case of her predecessors, Avenger uses a variable-depth sonar (SQQ-30, an improved SQQ-14) for minehunting. Deep mines will be neutralised by remote-control vehicles, operated from an automated CIC, which will plot mine locations with the assistance of a precise integrated navigation system SSN-2(V) PINS.

Modernizations

1990-1992, Sentry, Champion: - SQQ-30 sonar; + SQQ-32(v)3 sonar

1994-1997, Sentry, Champion, Guardian, Devastator, Patriot, Scout, Pioneer, Warrior, Gladiator, Ardent, Dextrous, Chief: - SYQ-13 CCS; + SYQ-15 CCS

2012-2016, Sentry, Champion, Devastator, Patriot, Scout, Pioneer, Warrior, Gladiator, Ardent, Dextrous, Chief: - 2 SLQ-48 MNS UUV, SSQ-32(v)3 sonar; + 2 Seafox/Archerfish MNS UUV (SLQ-48 EMNS countermine system), AMAS acoustic minesweeping gear, SSQ-32(V)4, Klein sonars

late 2010, Gladiator: + 1 x 1 - 25/75 Mk 38

late 2010s, many: - SPS-55 radar; + SPS-73 radar

Naval service

Guardian ran aground 17.1.2013 off the coast of the Philippines suffering heavy damage and was stricken next month.