Lucid’s Labor of Love
The U.S. Navy ocean minesweeper USS Lucid (MSO-458) underway in the Pacific Ocean, February 1970. Official U.S. Navy photo USN 1143191 from the U.S. Navy Naval History and Heritage Command
The Stockton Maritime Museum is currently restoring the USS Lucid (AM-458/MSO-458), the last of 53 Cold War-era Agile/Aggressive-class, ocean-going minesweepers in the U.S, and is “dedicated to honoring local sailors, shipbuilding companies & laborers, and maritime culture in Stockton, California.”
Built at the famous (for WWII LCVPs and PT boats) Higgins Yard in New Orleans, Lucid was commissioned on 4 May 1955 and only served 15 years in the fleet before she was mothballed and later disposed of in 1976. Used as a California houseboat and scrapyard headquarters hulk for over thirty years, the Stockton MM has been slowly restoring her since 2011.
They’ve come a long way and are trying to take it the extra mile.
Lucid circa 2011
Lucid today
Members of the museum last year visited Taiwan, where the Republic of China Navy allowed them to strip the recently decommissioned ROCS Yung Yang (MSO-1306)— the former Aggressive-class minesweeper USS Implicit (AM-455/MSO-455), to improve the Lucid.
They filled two 40-foot shipping containers with specialized equipment and MCM gear.
Bravo Zulu!