New Minesweeper Commissioned
The Navy has commissioned its first new minesweeper since the Korean War, a wooden-hulled ship that could be sent to the Persian Gulf.
About 1,000 people watched Saturday as James Bond Stockdale, a retired vice admiral and former Vietnam prisoner of war, accepted the 224-foot Avenger into the fleet.
Cmdr. Robert S. Rawls, the ship’s commanding officer and a veteran minesweeper sailor, said the Avenger, built by Peterson Builders Inc. of Sturgeon Bay, is the best minesweeper in the world.
“I think we can hunt mines faster, deeper, and in more regions of the world, “ Rawls said. “And we have more endurance.”
Navy representatives declined to speculate on the $153-million ship’s first assignment. However, a congressional aide noted that some of the aging minesweepers currently on the way to the Persian Gulf are being towed because of doubts they could make the trip under their own power.
The Avenger was launched June 15, 1985, and sailed 15 or 20 test voyages in Lake Michigan.
It will remain in Sturgeon Bay for more tests until November, before going to Charleston, S.C., for installation of more equipment and testing before deployment.
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