USS Bold (AM-424) - Drydock Period in Savannah

Drydock Period in Savannah

Bold began 1965 with normal operations out of Charleston. Early in February, however, she entered the yard at the Savannah Machine & Foundry for an interim drydock period. The minesweeper completed those repairs at the beginning of March and resumed normal duty at Charleston. At the end of June, Bold departed her home port in company with her colleagues of MinDiv 83 and set a course for the Gulf of Mexico, where she occupied the following month carrying out missions in support of the Mine Defense Laboratory at Panama City, Florida. She and her division mates left the Florida panhandle on 1 August and, after making a port call at Veracruz, Mexico, reentered Charleston on the 17th. The minesweeper spent most of what remained of 1965 in port at Charleston preparing for a regular overhaul projected for the beginning of 1966.

The overhaul began on schedule in mid-January, and Bold emerged from the Jacksonville Shipyard at Charleston on 19 April. After sea trials, she resumed local operations out of Charleston and remained so occupied until the beginning of August. On 5 August, the minesweeper put to sea for three weeks of special operations near Puerto Rico. She returned to Charleston on 29 August. On 26 September, Bold plunged into two months of intensive exercises, three weeks of refresher training followed by another four weeks of type training. That demanding schedule ended with her return to Charleston on 20 November. The warship concluded the year with an extended period of relative inactivity in her home port.