----------------------------------------------------------------
           The Navy Public Affairs Library (NAVPALIB)
   A service of the Navy Office of Information, Washington DC
     Send feedback/questions to navpalib@opnav-emh.navy.mil
----------------------------------------------------------------
The following was released by the Office of the Assistant to the
Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs).
                                          No. 082-94
                                          (703) 697-5342 (Media)
                                          (703) 697-3189 (Copies)
IMMEDIATE RELEASE   February 17, 1994     (703) 697-5737 (Public/
                                                        Industry)

           NAVY TO COMMISSION MINE COUNTERMEASURES SHIP ARDENT 
                                 (MCM 12)

    The Department of the Navy will commission the Avenger class
mine countermeasures ship Ardent (MCM 12) at 10 a.m. on Friday,
February 18, 1994, at Naval Station, Ingleside, Texas. 

    Representative E. (Kika) de la Garza will be the ceremony's
principal speaker.  Mrs. Sue Ann Thompson, wife of Wisconsin
Governor Tommy Thompson, is the ship's sponsor.

     Ardent (MCM 12) commemorates the prior service of a
minecraft of the same name (AM 340) which earned four battle
stars for service during World War II.  In November of 1944,
while on escort duty, along with the coast guard-manned frigate
Rockford (PF 48), the ship was credited with sinking the Japanese
submarine I-12. 
     
     These new ships will provide enhanced mine-hunting,
minesweeping and mine neutralization capabilities through the use
of advanced hull designs and state-of-the-art combat systems as
the Navy shifts focus away from open-ocean warfare to operations
in the littoral regions around the world. "...From the Sea."  

     The ship is powered by diesel engines that drive two
controllable, reversible pitch propellers.  It features a glass-
reinforced, plastic-sheathed wooden hull and degaussing system in
order to maintain a very low magnetic signature.  Ardent is 224
feet in length, has a beam of 39 feet and displaces approximately
1,320 tons fully loaded.  The ship will carry a crew of six
officers and 76 enlisted personnel.  The ship's commanding
officer will be Lieutenant Commander John T. Ririe, a native of
Salinas, California. 
                               -USN-