Fidelity-AM-96

Fidelity I

Faithfulness. Fidelity (AM-96) was redesignated PC-1600 (q.v.) on 1 June 1944.

Fidelity II
(AM-443: dp. 620, 1. 172'; b. 36'; dr. 10', s. 16 k.; cpl. 74, a. 1 40 mm.; cl. Agile)

The second Fidelity (AM-443) was launched 21 August 1963 by Higgins, Inc., New Orleans, La.; sponsored by Mrs. R. K. Wells; and commissioned 19 January 1955 She was reclassified MSO 443 on 7 February

Fidelity first arrived at her home port, Charleston, S.C., 1 May 1955, and through the next year ranged widely in the western Atlantic, serving with the Mine Countermeasures Station at Panama City, Fla., participating in fleet exercises, and calling at Halifax, Nova Scotia. Between 29 August 1967 and 13 February 1968, she served her first tour of duty in the Mediterranean with the 6th Fleet, joining in sweeping exercises as well as a large scale NATO training operation.

The minesweeper sailed directly to Beirut, Lebanon, on her 1958 deployment to the Mediterranean, arriving 16 August to support the marines landed a month earlier to stabilize the critical Middle Eastern situation. After an 8-day visit, she took up a regular Mediterranean tour schedule, which included visits to ports in Greece, Crete, and the Balearic Isles before her return to Charleston 3 November.

Between 24 July 1969 and 11 February 1960, Fidelity completed a third tour of duty in the Mediterranean, returning to coastwise operations through 1962.