USS Bold (MSO-424) was an acquired by the U.S. Navy for the task of clearing mines that had been placed in the water to prevent the safe passage of ships.
Bold was laid down on 12 December 1951 by the Norfolk Naval Shipyard; launched on 14 March 1953; sponsored by Mrs. Porter Hardy, Jr.; and commissioned on 25 September 1953.
Special sea trials
Bold did not report for normal duty with the Mine Force for 17 months after her commissioning. Instead, following outfitting at Norfolk, Virginia, and a brief training period in Chesapeake Bay, she began a series of special trials in conjunction with the Bureau of Ships, the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, and the New York Naval Shipyard. Those trials lasted from early October 1953 to early June 1954.
East Coast operations
At the end of the first week in June 1954, Bold finally embarked upon her delayed shakedown cruise that she conducted off the New England coast. At the end of the summer of 1954, the minesweeper entered the Norfolk Naval Shipyard for five months of modifications and post-shakedown repairs. On 7 February 1955 near the end of the overhaul, Bold was reclassified an ocean minesweeper and redesignated MSO-424.
On 15 February 1955, after nearly a year and a half of active duty, the warship entered port at the home of the Atlantic Fleet Mine Force, Charleston, South Carolina, for the first time in her career. That spring, after three weeks of intensive training, Bold participated in her first annual minesweeping exercise. On 2 May, she stood out of Charleston in company with the other ships of Mine Division (MinDiv) 83 to embark on her first deployment to the Mediterranean Sea. She and her division mates arrived in Lisbon, Portugal, on 18 May and, soon thereafter, joined the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean. During the ensuing four months, the minesweeper made port visits and conducted bilateral minesweeping exercises with units of the navies of Italy, Greece, and Spain. Bold concluded that tour of duty in the latter part of September and reentered Charleston, South Carolina, on 4 October.
After five weeks of the relative inactivity that usually follows a deployment, she steamed south early in November to enter the drydock of a civilian contractor at Jacksonville, Florida. When those repairs were completed in mid-December, Bold moved to the Naval Mine Defense Laboratory at Panama City, Florida, where she spent the first five months of 1956 assisting in the development of technology and tactics relative to mine warfare. In June, the minesweeper returned to Charleston, where she began a four-month overhaul at the Charleston Naval Shipyard. She completed that repair period in October and embarked upon a schedule of training missions in the local operating area in preparation for deployment to the Mediterranean again in January 1957.
Second Mediterranean cruise
Midway through the first week in January, Bold set out across the Atlantic with the other units of MinDiv 83. She entered the Mediterranean during the last week of the month and began five months of the usual drills, exercises, and port calls associated with a 6th Fleet assignment. She arrived back in Charleston, South Carolina, on 16 June and remained there through the middle of July for the normal post-deployment leave and upkeep period.
At that time, the minesweeper sailed north to Yorktown, Virginia, where she served as a training vehicle for the Mine Warfare School and whence she participated in a major Atlantic Fleet mine warfare exercise in the vicinity of the Virginia Capes. Bold returned south at the beginning of September, made a brief visit to Charleston, and then continued south to Key West, Florida, where she carried out missions for the Mine Development Detachment located there. She completed that assignment in mid-October and reentered Charleston on the 20th. For the remainder of 1957, the warship pursued a routine schedule of independent ship's exercises out of her home port.
Overhaul at Charleston
Normal operations out of Charleston occupied her time during the first quarter of 1958 as well. On 28 March 1958, however, Bold began an overhaul at the Charleston Naval Shipyard that consumed the next 16 weeks. The minesweeper devoted the balance of the summer to refresher training and preparations for overseas movement. She stood out of Charleston on 29 September and arrived at Gibraltar on 16 October. She made port visits and conducted exercises in the "middle sea" for a little less than four months before heading back to the United States early in 1959. Bold sailed back into her home port on 11 February 1959 and commenced post-deployment standdown.