Fearless III (AM-442)
1954-1990
A general word classification.
III
(AM-442: displacement 620; length 172'0"; beam 36'0"; draft 10'0"; speed 10 knots; complement 74; armament 1 40 millimeter; class Agile)
The third Fearless (AM-442) was laid down on 23 July 1952 at New Orleans, La., by Higgins, Inc.; launched on 17 July 1953; sponsored by Mrs. A. J. Higgins, Jr.; and commissioned on 22 September 1954, Lt. John Roberts in command.
With Charleston, S.C., as her home port, Fearless, reclassified as an ocean minesweeper, MSO-442, on 7 February 1955, operated on training operations, experiments and tests, and in exercises along the coast and in the Caribbean. Every other year from 1955 she sailed to the Mediterranean for duty with the Sixth Fleet, joining in North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) exercises and visiting European ports. In the spring of 1956, she conducted joint exercises with ships of the Royal Canadian Navy, and through that summer experimented with controllable pitch propellers and mine countermeasures equipment at Charleston and Port Everglades, Florida.
Ultimately, Fearless was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 28 October 1990 and decommissioned on 31 October 1990. She was disposed of, by Navy Sale, on 1 December 1992.
Updated, Robert J. Cressman
8 March 2022
