Avenger-class mine countermeasures ship

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Avenger-class mine countermeasures ship" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (February 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

The USS Avenger (MCM-1) underway in Hawaiian waters in July 2004
Class overview
Builders	Peterson Shipbuilders Marinette Marine
Preceded by	Ability-class minesweeper
Succeeded by	Littoral combat ship
In commission	1987
Completed	14
Active	8
Lost	1
Retired	5
General characteristics
Type	Mine countermeasures ship
Displacement	1,312 tons
Length	224 ft (68 m)
Beam	39 ft (12 m)
Draft	15 ft (4.6 m)
Propulsion	4 × Waukesha Diesel engines (first two ships) or 4 × Isotta-Fraschini Diesel engines (600 hp (450 kW) ea.) 2 × 200 hp (150 kW) electric propulsion motors 2 × shafts with controllable pitch propellers 1 × 350 hp (260 kW) Omnithruster waterjet bow thruster
Speed	14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph)
Complement	8 officers, 76 enlisted
Armament	Mine neutralization system, 4 × .50 caliber machine guns

Avenger-class mine countermeasures ships are a class of 14 ships constructed for the United States Navy from 1987 to 1994, designed to clear mines from vital waterways. The ships have the hull designator MCM.

The Avenger-class ships are being replaced by the Freedom and Independence-class littoral combat ships, as well as other MCM platforms, which use various unmanned air, surface, and undersea vehicles to detect and destroy naval mines at a standoff distance.^[1]