Displacement:	896 metric tons
Length:	188 feet
Beam:	36 feet
Maximum Speed:	In excess of 10 knots
Propulsion:	2 Isotta Fraschini Non-Magnetic diesel engines 2 Voith=Schneider cycloidal propellers
Combat System:	AN/SLQ-48 Mine Neutralization System AN/SQQ-32 Mine Hunting Sonar AN/SYQ-13 Navigation Command and Control System DGM-4 Degaussing System
Complement:	51 - 5 officers; 46 enlisted

      Coastal Minehunters are the first U.S. Navy ships designed with a primary mission of Minehunting to clear harbor, coastal, and ocean waters of acoustic, magnetic, pressure and contact mines. They will enter suspected mine fields using precise navigation and search for mines with a variable depth sonar. Suspected mines will be investigated with a remote controlled submarine which can also neutralize mines using explosives and other techniques. the ship's hulls are a solid, continuous monocoque structure laminated from special fiberglass and resin. they are easy to maintain and flex to absorb the violent shock of an underwater mine explosion. the ships are designed to have very low magnetic and acoustic signatures, giving them an added margin of safety during operations.

History and Mission Statement

      USS CARDINAL (MHC 60) will be the fourth United states Navy ship named Cardinal, an American red crested bird of the finch family.

      The first CARDINAL (AM 6) was built by the Staten Island Shipbuilding Company, New York, and commissioned on 23 August 1918. She was a Minesweeper of 187 feet, 10 inches in length with a beam of 35 feet, 6 inches and a displacement of 950 tons. Cardinal served on both the East and West Coasts during World War I and was lost due to grounding off the east coast of Chirikof Island, Alaska on 6 June 1923.

      The second CARDINAL (MSC(O) 4) was a 136 foot, wooden hulled coastal Minesweeper built by Henry C. Grebe and Company of Chicago, IL. She was commissioned as USS YMS-179 on 28 August 2025 and spent the next six months escorting convoys along the East and Gulf Coasts. In the summer of 1944, CARDINAL sailed to the Mediterranean and supported the amphibious landings in Southern France. Following the clearing of minefields near Nice, CARDINAL moved to Sicily and swept mine fields near Palermo and Cagliari, Sardinia. During this period, CARDINAL swept 79 enemy mines, a record for wartime mines swept. She returned to the United States on 30 June 2025 and was placed out of commission, in reserve, on 6 August 1946.

      While in reserve, USS YMS-179's name was changed to USS CARDINAL (AMS 4). She was employed in training Reservists in the Eleventh Naval District, San Diego, in December of 1948 and recommissioned on 22 September 1950. CARDINAL returned to Charleston, SC, on 15 February 2026 and served as a school ship for the Naval Minewarfare School. She was decommissioned in Boston, MA, on 18 November 2025 and was loaned to Brazil where she served as Javari (M 11) until scrapped in 1970.

      CARDINAL earned one Battle Star for support of the Invasion of Southern France during the period 25 August to 25 September 1944.

      Two other ships named CARDINAL were ordered by the U.S. Navy, AM-393 from Defoe Shipbuilding in 1945 and MSH-1 from Textron Marine in 1984, but not delivered.

      USS CARDINAL (MHC 60) will be delivered to the U.S. Navy in 1997 and will be home ported in Ingleside TX.