USS Excel (AM-439)
{{short description|Minesweeper of the United States Navy}}
{{other ships|USS Excel}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}}
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{{Infobox ship image |Ship image=USS Excel (MSO-439) underway off San Diego, California (USA), on 14 December 1985 (6409696).jpg |Ship caption= }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country=United States |Ship flag={{USN flag|1992}} |Ship name= USS Excel (AM-439) (MSO-439) |Ship namesake= |Ship owner= |Ship operator= |Ship registry= |Ship route= |Ship ordered= |Ship awarded= |Ship builder=Higgins Corp., New Orleans, Louisiana |Ship original cost= |Ship yard number= |Ship way number= |Ship laid down=9 February 1953 |Ship launched=25 September 1953 |Ship sponsor= |Ship christened= |Ship completed= |Ship acquired= |Ship commissioned=24 February 1955 |Ship recommissioned= |Ship decommissioned=30 September 1992 |Ship maiden voyage= |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship renamed= |Ship reclassified=MSO-439 7 February 1955 |Ship refit= |Ship struck=28 March 1994 |Ship reinstated= |Ship homeport= |Ship identification= |Ship motto= |Ship nickname= |Ship honours=Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, Secretary of the Navy Letter of Commendation, Secretary of the Navy Energy Conservation Award, Navy Reserve Sea Service Deployment Ribbon, Minesweeping "M" Excellence Award |Ship honors= |Ship captured= |Ship fate=Sold for scrap, 2000 |Ship notes= |Ship badge= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship class={{sclass|Agile|minesweeper}} |Ship type= |Ship tonnage= |Ship displacement=775 tons |Ship length={{convert|172|ft|m|2|abbr=on}} |Ship beam={{convert|36|ft|m|2|abbr=on}} |Ship height= |Ship draught={{convert|10|ft|m|2|abbr=on}} |Ship draft= |Ship depth= |Ship hold depth= |Ship decks= |Ship deck clearance= |Ship ramps= |Ship ice class= |Ship power= |Ship propulsion=Four Packard ID1700 diesel engines, replaced by four Waukasha Motors Co. diesels, two shafts, two controllable pitch propellers. |Ship sail plan= |Ship speed=14 knots |Ship range= |Ship endurance= |Ship test depth= |Ship boats= |Ship capacity= |Ship troops= |Ship complement=74 |Ship crew= |Ship time to activate= |Ship sensors= |Ship EW= |Ship armament=1 40 mm., 2 .50 cal (12.7 mm) mg |Ship armour= |Ship armor= |Ship aircraft= |Ship aircraft facilities= |Ship notes= }} |
USS Excel (MSO-439) was an {{sclass|Agile|minesweeper}}: laid down, 9 February 1953 as AM-439 at the Higgins Corp., New Orleans, Louisiana; launched, 25 September 1953; reclassified an Ocean Minesweeper (non-magnetic) MSO-439, 7 February 1955; commissioned USS Excel (MSO-439), 24 February 1955.
West Coast operations
USS Excel arrived at Long Beach, California, her home port, 4 June 1955, and began operating along the west coast in training and exercises. In 1956, and again in 1959, she served in the Far East with the U.S. 7th Fleet, visiting Japan, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Korea, and Taiwan, and exercising with ships of friendly navies. Through 1960 she continued to sail out of Long Beach, California, for operations and cruises along the west coast.
Minediv 93 went on a WesPac during the summer of 1961. On 27 August 1961, Commander Mine Division 93, with ocean minesweepers USS Leader (MSO 490) and USS Excel (MSO 439), made the first official visit by ships of the US Navy to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. The only time US Navy ships visited the capital until USS Gary visited in February 2007.
During the Vietnam war USS Excel was involved in Operation Market Time which interdicted arms smuggling from North Vietnam to the many rivers and estuaries of South Vietnam by everything that could float, now considered the most successful naval operation of the Vietnam war, although it led to the vast improvement of the Ho Chi Minh trail.
USS Excel was sent to the reserve fleet in the 1970s and was sent to its new home port, Treasure Island in the middle of San Francisco Bay.
Rear Admiral Albert T. Church III served as captain of USS Excel during the late 1970s when he was a lieutenant commander.
Captain Gerald F. Deconto was the Engineering Officer of Excel during the early 1980s when he was a newly graduated ensign; Deconto was killed at the Pentagon on 11 September 2001.
Decommissioning
USS Excel was decommissioned, 30 September 1992; struck from the Naval Register, 28 March 1994; laid up in the Reserve Fleet; sold for scrapping to Crowley Marine, January 2000.
References
- {{DANFS|https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/e/excel-ii.html}}
- {{Naval Vessel Register|{{Naval Vessel Register URL|id=MSO439}}}}
External links
- {{navsource|11/02439}}
{{Agile class minesweeper}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Excel}}
Category:Agile-class minesweepers
Category:Ships built in New Orleans
Category:Vietnam War mine warfare vessels of the United States