USS Pledge (MSO-492)

USS Pledge (MSO-492) was an Aggressive-class minesweeper acquired by the U.S. Navy.

History
United States
Name: USS Pledge (MSO-492)
Laid down: 24 June 1954
Launched: 20 July 1955
Commissioned: 20 April 1956
Decommissioned: 31 January 1994
Stricken: 31 January 1994
Homeport: Long Beach, California
Fate: sold to the Republic of China, 9 September 1994
Taiwan
Name: ROCS Yung Teh (MSO-1309)
Acquired: 9 September 1994
Status: in active service
General characteristics
Displacement: 775 tons (full load)
Length: 172 ft (52 m)
Beam: 36 ft (11 m)
Draught: 10 ft (3.0 m)
Speed: 15 knots
Complement: 74
Armament: one 40 mm mount

The second ship to be named Pledge by the Navy, MSO-492, a minesweeper, was laid down on 24 June 1954 by the J. M. Martinac Shipbuilding Corp., Tacoma, Washington, launched 20 July 1955, sponsored by Mrs. T. F. Uitsch, and commissioned 20 April 1956, Lt. Thomas D. Pfundstein in command.

West Coast operations

After sea trials, Pledge joined her sister ships at Long Beach, California, 25 May 1956. Following training from July 1956 to February 1957 she operated in WESTPAC March to September 1957. She underwent modification from October 1957 to March 1958.

Vietnam operations
USS Pledge (MSO-492) underway off Vietnam in October 1967

Deployed to WESTPAC 24 August 1961, she visited Bangkok, Thailand, in November, and Saigon, Vietnam, in December. In early 1962 she participated in special training operations at Da Nang, Vietnam until her departure 17 February. Her deployment to WESTPAC, 12 August 1963 included exercises with South Korean ships in October and Nationalist Chinese ships in November. On her next assignment to WESTPAC, 13 August 1965, She performed coastal surveillance duties off the Republic of Vietnam from 18 October to 16 November 1965 and from 18 December into early 1966.

Into 1970 Pledge remained active with the U.S. Pacific Fleet.

Decommissioning

Decommissioned and stricken 31 January 1994, Pledge was sold to Taiwan on 8 March of that year.

See also

References

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


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.