Welcome to the Web Page for

USS ENDURANCE (MSO 435)
"Citrus Juliette"

This web site is a work in progress.  The WebMaster was on board in the Spring of 1960 and has tried very hard to get names of personnel and places accurate.  In his age befuddled mind, it is possible that some time reference, person's name or location has been misslabeled.  Please click on the eMail button at the bottom of this paragraph and forward ANY corrections or changes that you might wish to recommend.  I thank you in advance.  It is okay to just drop a note "HELLO" if you wish.  I strongly encourage ANYONE who was on board Endurance to say "HELLO".
Send comments & recommendations here.

USS Endurance (MSO 435) WesPac Tour, 1960



Other ships in the division

Click on any picture to see the full size photo.

Bruce Riley's pictures from early 1960

More photos added Sep't. 2007


 

 


Wooden Ships and Iron Men

By
David D. Bruhn

Wooden Ships and Iron Men
David D. Bruhn Home Page
From 1953 to 1994, sixty-five U.S. Navy ocean minesweepers (MSOs) swept mines; searched the seafloor for downed aircraft, sunken ships, and lost munitions; “showed the flag” throughout the world, even sailing up the Congo and Mekong Rivers, calling at dozens of the world's seaports; and carried out patrols and special tasks off strife-torn or hostile countries. Some participated in the 1962 nuclear test program in the Pacific and in the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo space programs. Others, as part of a U.S. armada of military and civilian research ships at Palomares, located a nuclear bomb lost on the seafloor off Spain as a result of a midair collision between two U.S. Air Force aircraft. Iron men in wooden ships were with the Fleet in hotspots around the world, including Lebanon and the Quemoy-Matsu islands of Taiwan in 1958; the Dominican Republic in 1961 and 1965; and the Cuban Missile Crisis and Haiti in 1962. During the Vietnam War, minesweepers participated in Operation MARKET TIME to prevent the infiltration of North Vietnamese soldiers and munitions into South Vietnam. Leader received the Presidential Unit Citation for extraordinary heroism in Operation SEA LORDS; Endurance engaged in close gun action with and helped destroy an enemy armed trawler in a sea battle; and MSOs cleared mines in Haiphong Harbor, which aided in the negotiations in progress for the return of U.S. prisoners of war. During the twilight of their service in the late 1980s and early 1990s, aging sweeps cleared Iranian- and Iraqi-laid mines in the Persian Gulf.

 

 

Click on the photo or the caption to go to the story of the sea battle ,

Richard DeRosset's "Sea Battle off the Cua Co Chien River Mouth" depicts the heroic sea battle in 1970 between the USS Endurance (MSO 435) and a larger, faster and more heavily armed Viet Cong steel-hulled vessel. A copy of it will be used for the dust jacket of Cdr. David Bruhn's forth coming book "Wooden Ships and Iron Men: The U.S. Navy's Ocean Minesweepers, 1953-1994" Persons interested in obtaining a reproduction of the painting may contact the artist at the below address for details:

Richard DeRosset

1914 El Prado

Lemon Grove, CA 91945

 

BM2 Michael Wark's Viet Nam Memories

Endurance receives and returns enemy fire.

 

Do you remember this man. Tony Segarra thinks he is an ET. Please eMail his name to me.
I received an eMail from Roger Wilson:
"Clark Craig ET my best friend on the Endurance. Thank you Roger Wilson"



USS Endurance (MSO 435) Photo Gallery

Courtesy of Tony Segarra

Courtesy of John LaFalce, Latham, NY. through Tony Segarra

Photo courtesy of Kerry Wymetalek

 

Sunday afternoon picnic on the fantail.  This was half way across the Pacific, Spring of 1960.  The Captain had requested permission to pull ahead of the formation.  We steamed at one knot faster than the Division and had the picnic while we opened the distance from them.  After the picnic the skipper stopped all engines, placed the gunner on the 04 level with an M1 rifle and declared "Swim Call".  One of those days that stick in your memory.

Picnic on the fantail. Calm day in mid-Pacific. Barbecue grill made from a 55 gallon drum just forward of the Mag Tail fairlead chock.
Picnic on a Sunday afternoon in mid-Pacific.  Lt. J. G. Schumacher and the GM2 are sitting on the Port Sweep Locker hatch. The Captain, LCdr. Fleeger, and the XO are leaning against the Port rail.
Photos by Mike Goss

This picture was taken when Ron Dailey was on the ship (left Ron Dailey) (right Sanderval). It does not show much of the Endurance but in the background you can see the Implicit 455 and directly behind it is the Fortify 446.
Ron Dailey EX-BM2

Getting mail somewhere in the South China Sea
Courtesy of Tony Segarra

 

Courtesy of Tony Segarra

 

Courtesy of Steve Stratford

 

Photo; about June, 1966; Courtesy of Bill Matthey


 

All of the above stories and pictorials are subject to change as former crew members and other interested parties contact the WebMaster.  To send me additions, recommendations for changes and photos, my eMail is:
eMail Here


Please Sign My Guest Book

Read my Dreambook guestbook!
Sign my Dreambook! 		Dreambook

 


Thank you for stopping by.

 


Please visit my other web site USS Leader (MSO 490).

 


Free counters provided by Andale.

Find out about 102 Minesweepers

Look in the Chain Locker


Free search engine submission and placement services!