similar Bluebird 1972
| No | Name | Yard No | Builder | Laid down | Launched | Comm | Fate |
| AMCU43, 2.1958- MHC43 | Bittern | Consolidated, City Island | 8.1955 | 4.3.1957 | 8.1957 | stricken 2.1972 |
|
Displacement standard, t |
300 |
|
Displacement full, t |
360 |
|
Length, m |
42.1 wl 44.1 oa |
|
Breadth, m |
8.50 |
|
Draught, m |
2.40 |
|
No of shafts |
2 |
|
Machinery |
2 Packard diesels |
|
Power, h. p. |
1200 |
|
Max speed, kts |
14 |
|
Fuel, t |
diesel oil |
|
Endurance, nm(kts) |
2500(10) |
|
Armament |
1 x 1 - 40/60 Mk 3 |
|
Electronic equipment |
SPS-53 radar, SQQ-14 sonar |
|
Complement |
40 |
Project history: Bittern, built under the FY54 programme, was a prototype to succeed thirty-one YMS and LSI(L) conversions (then called underwater object locators, or AMCU) under the FY52 (SCB 73) programme. She had no mine destruction capability at all, and was intended rather to locate and plot mine locations, so that small boats or divers could destroy them. To that end she was extremely manoeuvrable, with controllable-pitch propellers and active rudders. Her hull duplicated that of the contemporary Bluebird class coastal sweeper.
Modernizations: None.
Naval service: No significant events.
Bittern 1958
© Ivan Gogin, 2015