USS AVENGER (MCM 1)

The current AVENGER is the first of the United States Navy's newest class of Mine Countermeasures ships.  Built by Peterson Builders Incorporated,  in Sturgeon Bay Wisconsin,  she was christened by Mrs.  Sybill Stockdale on 15 June 1985 and placed in active service on 12 September 1987.

Subsequent to her commissioning and a period of test and trials,  AVENGER arrived in her homeport of Charleston,  South Carolina,  and began operating as a member of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet.

Following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait,  AVENGER deployed to the Arabian Gulf as a coalition force member in support of Operation DESERT SHIELD and DESERT STORM on the 16th of August 1990.  AVENGER was the longest serving ship from all of the coalition forces during the SHIELD/STORM conflict and well as the first ship in the history of naval warfare to locate and neutralize bottom mines.  The shapes that are painted on the port and starboard bridge wings represent actual mines neutralized during the Gulf War.  AVENGER was awarded the Navy Unit Commendation and Combat Action Ribbon for her wartime accomplishments.

In 1993, AVENGER shifted homeports to the newly constructed Naval Station Ingleside,  Texas.  Since that time she deployed to the Eastern Atlantic in 1993 and 1995,  Mediterranean Sea in 1997 and 1999.  In 2001 AVENGER  deployed to the Eastern Pacific via the Panama Canal and conducted Joint, Combined, and Bilateral exercises and operations on the West Coast.  Late in 2001,  AVENGER conducted test operations of a revolutionary jam resistant electronic navigation system.  AVENGER completed her most significant modernization in the summer of 2002.