I was an OS3 up in CIC when the mine hit. We relieved Leader crew in Abu Dhabi.

Our Captain was having the ship sweep a "box", we were assigned to that night, with the magnetic gear.

Around 10:30 pm or maybe a little later we heard the rumble of the mine going off, shortly after that the Captain came down to combat. He was thrilled that gear had worked since no one really knew if it would in combat.

As the Captain talked to the Watch Supervisor (OS1 Bechen) and Combat Officer, I heard the engine room on one of the speakers.

Something had gone wrong. Even though the mine had detonated well away from the ship, about 1/2 mile back, it had bent the screw and tore up one of our engines real bad.

We limped into Bahrain and spent about 3 weeks replacing one of the engines and fixing the screw.

Afterwards we located mines with the sonar and divers to place explosives on mines.
We also took on a Stinger det. The British mine sweepers did not ask for permission from the Commodore to destroy mines and we had a hard time keeping up with them because of that.

We were the first US ship into Kuwait City. The place was a mess. There was not one building ashore that did not look like Swiss Cheese, pockmarked with bullet holes. The taking of Kuwait City certainly had not been a cakewalk we could tell.

I think for our time in the Gulf, we located and destroyed the most mines of the US mine sweepers. We certainly beat Avenger, a much more modern sweep. We found bottom mines shaped like large coke cans, Manta's shaped like cones, and the traditional round 1918 Russian ball contact mines. We had some close calls and we watched mines explode shooting water spouts hundreds of feet into the air. At night the fo'csle watch would wear night vision goggles to spot day heated surface contact mines that would glow in the dark. I would deliver coffee to those watches and give the guy a break. We were all a team.

We lived on the fantail day and night in all types of weather. We endured the smoke and oil in the air and the sun's heat when we could see it. Water was very short and we would go weeks without a decent shower. Our coffee even had rainbows on the top. We sometimes fished for shark and had shark steaks on occasion.

When we returned to the States we spent 2 months off, waiting to relieve Exultant from it's crew. We were in no hurry. Shortly after, the crew was broken up and Exultant was readied to be decommissioned.

I went to a Frigate in Charleston, USS Dewert, just a few piers down from Exultant.
I stayed a mine sweeper sailor until I got out in November of 93.

I'll never forget my times on Exultant and Leader, those were the best days of my Navy career. We actually did something.

I am now a Radio Electronics Tech with Military Sealift Command. I think the crews in MSC are about as close as those on the Minesweepers.

Life is good.