USS Constant (AM-427/MSO-427) was an Agile class minesweeper vessel in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

. ''Constant'' was laid down on 16 August 1951 at Fulton Shipyard,

Antioch, California Antioch is the third-most populous city in Contra Costa County, California, United States. The city is located in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area along the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta. The city's population was 115,29 ...

and launched on 14 February 1953. She was commissioned as ''Constant'', AM-427) on 8 September 1954 and later reclassified as an Ocean

Minesweeper A minesweeper is a small warship designed to remove or detonate naval mines. Using various mechanisms intended to counter the threat posed by naval mines, minesweepers keep waterways clear for safe shipping. History The earliest known usage of ...

MSO-427 on 7 February 1955.

Pacific Ocean operations

''Constant'' operated on the west coast until she cleared

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

, 4 January 1956 for

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Reci ...

and Yokosuka, Japan, arriving 4 February. She joined in amphibious exercises at

Iwo Jima is one of the Japanese Volcano Islands, which lie south of the Bonin Islands and together with them make up the Ogasawara Subprefecture, Ogasawara Archipelago. Together with the Izu Islands, they make up Japan's Nanpō Islands. Although sout ...

, made repairs to cables and conducted

minesweeping Minesweeping is the practice of removing explosive naval mines, usually by a specially designed ship called a minesweeper using various measures to either capture or detonate the mines, but sometimes also with an aircraft made for that purpos ...

and local operations from her base at

Sasebo is a core city located in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. It is the second-largest city in Nagasaki Prefecture, after its capital, Nagasaki. , the city had an estimated population of 230,873 in 102,670 households, and a population density of 540 per ...

until 28 March. Between 2 April and 19 May, she sailed in training exercises with naval forces of the

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

based on

Kaohsiung Kaohsiung, officially Kaohsiung City, is a special municipality located in southern Taiwan. It ranges from the coastal urban center to the rural Yushan Range with an area of . Kaohsiung City has a population of approximately 2.73 million p ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

. She returned to

20 April to resume operations in Japanese waters until 19 May, when she cleared Yokosuka, Japan, for

, arriving 15 June.

Stateside overhaul

After overhaul and west coast operations, ''Constant'' sailed from

, 2 June 1958, for

and duty in

off

Okinawa most commonly refers to: * Okinawa Prefecture, Japan's southernmost prefecture * Okinawa Island, the largest island of Okinawa Prefecture * Okinawa Islands, an island group including Okinawa itself * Okinawa (city), the second largest city in th ...

, as well as other local operations from 3 July to 30 August. She stood by at

from 2 September until 27 October during the

Quemoy Kinmen, alternatively known as Quemoy, is a group of islands governed as a county by the Republic of China (Taiwan), only east from the city of Xiamen in Fujian, located at the southeastern coast of the People's Republic of China, from which ...

Crisis, then called at

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

, before returning to Japan. She cleared Yokosuka, Japan, 12 December for

, arriving 6 January 1959. Through the remainder of 1959, and the first half of 1960, she operated locally from Long Beach. On 31 August ''Constant'' sailed for duty in the Far East, where she remained into 1961. In the mid-1980s, she participated in one or more extended endurance Naval Reserve summer training cruises (with reservists embarked) from her homeport in San Diego to as far away as the Naval Air Station in Adak, Alaska. In June 1985, ''Constant'' called at Coast Guard Station Juneau and

Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak is an United States Coast Guard Air Stations, Air Station of the United States Coast Guard located in Kodiak, Alaska. It is the largest in the service's Pacific Area, with a crew of 85 officers and 517 enlisted per ...

, both in Alaska.

Decommissioning

''Constant'' was decommissioned, 30 September 1992; struck from the

Naval Register A Navy Directory, Navy List or Naval Register is an official list of naval officers, their ranks and seniority, the ships which they command or to which they are appointed, etc., that is published by the government or naval authorities of a co ...

, 9 March 1994; sold for scrapping to Crowley Marine, removal date 29 September 1999; scrapped, 1 April 2001.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Constant Agile-class minesweepers 1953 ships Ships built in Antioch, California