From: Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships

Faithfulness.

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

The second Fidelity (AM-443) was launched 21 August 1953 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 1955.

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 exercise, and calling at Halifax, Nova Scotia. Between 29 August 1957 and 13 February 1958, 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 15 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 1959 and 11 February 1960, Fidelity completed a third tour of duty in the Mediterranean, returning to coastwise operations through 1962. [Transcriber's Note: Decommissioned and stricken 16 June 1989, Fidelity was sold 16 August 1990.]