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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

USS Impeccable (MSF 320)
ex-USS Impeccable (AM 320)



Call sign:
November - Charlie - Mike - Zulu

ex-HMS Brutus (BAM 7)

Auk Class Minesweeper:

  • Originally planned as HMS Brutus (BAM 7)
  • Reclassified and renamed Impeccable (AM-320), 23 January 1943
  • Laid down 1 February 1943 by the General Engineering and Dry Dock Co., Alameda, CA
  • Launched 21 May 1943
  • Commissioned USS Impeccable (AM-320), 24 April 1944
    Naval Vessel Register of 1 January 1949 lists plan for decommissioning and placing in reserve as August 1946
  • Decommissioned 27 March 1947 at San Diego, CA
  • Recommissioned 12 March 1952
  • Reclassified as a Fleet Minesweeper (Steel Hull), MSF-320, 7 February 1955
  • Decommissioned 14 October 1955
  • Struck from the Naval Register 1 July 1972
  • Sold for scrap 1 April 1974.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 890 t.
  • Length 221' 2"
  • Beam 32' 2"
  • Draft 10' 9"
  • Speed 18.1 kts.
  • Complement 105
  • Armament: One 3"/50 dual purpose gun mount, two twin 40mm gun mounts, two 20mm gun mounts, two depth charge tracks and five depth charge projectors
  • Propulsion: Two 1,988shp Baldwin VO8 diesel electric drive engines, Westinghouse single reduction gear, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Impeccable 269k 15 March 1944
    Under construction with the number 57 on her bow. Pocatello (PF 9) is in the lower right of photo
    U.S. Navy photo 1969-44    		 Darryl Baker
    Impeccable 66k . Joseph M. Radigan (of blessed memory)
    Impeccable 288k U.S. Navy photo Bill Gonyo
    Defense 73k 8 October 1952. Laertes (AR-20) at Sasebo, Japan, with nine minesweepers and a harbor tug alongside. Ships nested from left to right are: Impeccable; Gladiator (AM-319); Shoveler (AM-382); Defense (AM-317); Devastator (AM-318); Laertes; Condor (AM-5); Kite (AMS-22); Curlew (AMS-8); Chatterer (AMS-40), and Wallacut (YTB-420).
    National Archives photo 80-G-63229    		 Naval Historical Center
    Commanding Officers
    01LCDR Bryan Hooker Smith, Jr.,USNR24 April 1944 - 8 March 1946
    02LT Robert Charles Burnett, USNR8 March 1946 - 27 March 1947
    Courtesy of Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves and R. A. Moody
    View the Impeccable (MSF-320)
    DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Website
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    Naval Minewarfare Association
    Association of Minemen
    Back To The Main Photo Index Back To the Mine Warfare Ship Photo Index Back to the Fleet Minesweeper (MSF) Photo Index
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    This page was created by Gary P. Priolo & maintained by Joseph M. Radigan (of blessed memory) & David Wright
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