USS Bold (AM-424) - Norfolk Shipyard Overhaul

Norfolk Shipyard Overhaul

On 2 March 1960, the minesweeper entered the Norfolk Naval Shipyard for regular overhaul. She completed the repairs early in May and returned to Charleston on the 12th. Refresher training and minesweeping drills took up the balance of May and most of June. On 28 June, Bold departed Charleston for a midshipman training cruise to the West Indies that lasted through the summer. She arrived back in Charleston on 13 September but, after two weeks alongside a tender, got underway again on 2 October. The ship steamed north to Canadian waters where she participated in Operation Sweep Clear V. Bold returned to Charleston from that exercise on 26 October and resumed the familiar roles of training vehicle and test platform, for the Mine Warfare School and the mine service tests, respectively.

Normal duty along the Atlantic seaboard continued into the early months of 1961. On 10 April 1961, Bold departed Charleston in company with the rest of MinDiv 83 on her way to another tour of duty with the U.S. 6th Fleet. Over the ensuing six months, she operated as an element of Task Force (TF) 62, conducting exercises and visiting a number of Mediterranean ports. The minesweeper returned to Charleston in October and spent the remainder of 1961 in port preparing for and executing a yard overhaul.

Bold completed repairs early in February 1962 and devoted the rest of the month and most of March to refresher training. In April, the minesweeper participated in amphibious exercises at Vieques Island, near Puerto Rico, and at Onslow Beach, North Carolina. The month of May brought upkeep in Charleston and, in June, she traveled to Panama City, Florida, where she provided services to the Navy's Mine Defense Laboratory.

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