USS Fidelity (AM-443)

USS Fidelity (AM-443/MSO-443) was an Aggressive-class minesweeper. Laid down on 15 December 1952 at Higgins Inc., New Orleans, Louisiana; launched on 21 August 1953; commissioned on 19 January 1955; redesignated as an Ocean Minesweeper, MSO-443, 7 February 1955.

For other ships with the same name, see USS Fidelity.

History
Name:	USS Fidelity
Builder:	Higgins Inc., New Orleans, Louisiana
Laid down:	15 December 1952
Launched:	21 August 1953
Commissioned:	19 January 1955, as AM-443
Decommissioned:	19 May 1989
Reclassified:	MSO-443, 7 February 1955
Stricken:	16 June 1989
Fate:	Sold for scrapping, 10 September 1990
General characteristics
Class and type:	Aggressive-class minesweeper
Displacement:	775 tons
Length:	172 ft (52.43 m)
Beam:	36 ft (10.97 m)
Draft:	10 ft (3.05 m)
Propulsion:	4 × Packard ID1700 diesel engines (replaced by 4 Waukasha Motors Co. diesels) 2 × shafts 2 × controllable pitch propellers
Speed:	14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph)
Complement:	8 officers, 70 enlisted
Armament:	1 × single 40 mm gun mount (later replaced by 1 × twin 20 mm gun mount) 2 × .50 cal (12.7 mm) twin machine guns

Service history

North Atlantic operations

Fidelity first arrived at her home port, Charleston, South Carolina, 1 May 1955, and through the next year ranged widely in the western Atlantic, serving with the Mine Countermeasures Station at Panama City, Florida, 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 U.S. 6th Fleet, joining in sweeping exercises as well as a large scale NATO training operation.

Supporting Middle East Crisis

The minesweeper sailed directly to Beirut, Lebanon, on her 1958 deployment to the Mediterranean, arriving 15 August to support the U.S. Marines landed a month earlier to stabilize the critical Middle Eastern situation. After an eight-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, South Carolina, 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.

Decommissioning

Fidelity was decommissioned, 19 May 1989; struck from the Naval Register, 16 June 1989; sold for scrapping, 10 September 1990 to Wyns Hoggs for $13,775.

References

• This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
• This article includes information collected from the Naval Vessel Register, which, as a U.S. government publication, is in the public domain. The entry can be found here.

External links

• Photo gallery of USS Fidelity (AM-433/MSO 443) at NavSource Naval History
• USS Fidelity (MSO-443)