Avenger-class mine countermeasures ship

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:	11
Lost:	1
Retired:	2
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, 2 × .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.

In the early 1980s, the U.S. Navy began development of a new mine countermeasures (MCM) force, which included two new classes of ships and minesweeping helicopters. The vital importance of a state-of-the-art mine countermeasures force was strongly underscored in the Persian Gulf during the eight years of the Iran-Iraq war, and in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm in 1990 and 1991 when Avenger and Guardian conducted MCM operations.

Avenger-class ships are designed as mine hunter-killers capable of finding, classifying, and destroying moored and bottom mines. The last three MCM ships were purchased in 1990, bringing the total to 14 fully deployable, oceangoing Avenger-class ships. These ships use sonar and video systems, cable cutters and a mine-detonating device that can be released and detonated by remote control. They are also capable of conventional sweeping measures.

As of 2012, eight Avengers were forward-based: four at Sasebo, Japan with standing crews, and four at Manama, Bahrain, with ten ships' companies on rotational deployments. In March 2012, the USN announced plans to deploy another four MCMs to Bahrain to counter potential Iranian threats to mine the Strait of Hormuz reflecting increasing tensions between the United States and Iran over the latter's nuclear program.