Its Friday and nothing is going on here so let’s address this subject!
The US Navy ordered new wooden hull class of mine sweepers in 1951 starting with the USS Aggressive (MSO-422) They were built of laminated wood using bronze and stainless steel fittings to minimize their magnetic signature. They also used
four Packard 1D1700 nonmagnetic diesel engines. Great care was taken to insure the magnetic signature was low, maybe that includes things like the modified TCS cases?
Think that 53 Agile/Aggressive/Dash-class MSOs were in service by the late fifties.
In the sixties USS Fortify (MSO-446) was deployed off the coast of South Vietnam with her minesweeping gear removed and an electronic countermeasures “box” was installed on the fantail. The ship was involved in monitoring and intercepting
Viet Cong radio transmissions. Several others were deployed as part of the Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club.
At the height of their involvement in Vietnam, the Navy started a mid-life extension and modernization process for roughly half of their MSOs. Would assume that the old TCS sets would have been removed and replaced with something that would
accommodate SSB like the URC-35? 19 ships were updated to the new standard.
While conducting minesweeping operations in the Persian Gulf they discovered and destroyed underwater contact mines deployed across the main shipping channel. Would speculate that any tube AM only technology was long gone at that point,
replaced by Sunair GSB products for ship to ship communications with larger Harris or General Dynamics hardware taking on long range communications?
Between 1989-1994 the last of the MSOs were decommissioned and stricken with the healthiest four units transferred to the Republic of China Navy (Taiwan) in 1994-95: USS Conquest (MSO-488), USS Gallant (MSO-489), USS Pledge (MSO-492), and
USS Implicit (MSO-455) as ROCS Yung Tzu (MSO-1307), ROCS Yung Ku (MSO-1308), ROCS Yung Teh (MSO-1309), ROCS Yung Yang (MSO-1306), respectively, are still in service.
With what’s going on in the Persian Gulf today would wonder if we would want them back!
Despite all the above comments I do not know that much about that class of vessel, but do know how to do a key word search outside of the AI tool. You can look at:
Couple good pictures of the bridge on the USS Esteem (MSO-438) but unfortunately no radios. Taken in 1990 and would speculate it would be something like a Sunair 800 or 900 anyway.
https://www.navsource.net/archives/11/02438.htm
Ray F/KA3EKH
From: [email protected] <[email protected]>
On Behalf Of Nick England via Milsurplus
Sent: Friday, March 20, 2026 8:39 AM
To: Brenda Gentry <[email protected]>
Cc: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [Milsurplus] Let's ask A.I. !
The Navy built a series of wooden-hulled minesweepers in the early 1950s. They used aluminum block diesel engines (and TCS sets with aluminum or stainless steel cabinets).
Does anyone have a copy of Field Change 10 for TCS???
I also found reference to several shipboard DF sets with aluminum parts to minimize compass disturbance.
AI answers are usually plausible and sometimes correct. YMMV.
Nick England K4NYW
Chapel Hill NC
www.navy-radio.com