Overview
The MSC-268 class contains 21 completed MDAP coastal minesweepers, MSC-268 through MSC-288, built in the United States for allied navies rather than as a single U.S. Navy operational squadron.
Developed for MDAP partner navies, MSC-268 class belongs to the Mine warfare vessels family and is associated with Cold War. Its documented designations include Coastal minesweeper and Motor minesweeper, while its intended roles include Coastal minesweeping and Allied mine warfare.
Development and construction
Ship-specific records show two meaningful hull/configuration patterns: a 144-foot / roughly 375-ton standard form and a 152-foot / roughly 370-ton stretched form used by selected Spanish and Republic of China ships.
The documented program for MSC-268 class lists 21 planned, 21 ordered, 21 laid down, 21 completed, and 0 cancelled, with design work beginning in 1956, construction beginning in 1957, and construction ending in 1960. These figures define the scale and chronology currently supported by the class sources.
Design characteristics and intended role
The surviving classification data associates MSC-268 class with Wood hull, Non-magnetic construction, and Diesel propulsion. Read together with the recorded roles of Coastal minesweeping and Allied mine warfare, these attributes show the operational problem the design was intended to address without implying specifications that the sources do not establish.
The class record identifies MDAP partner navies as the principal design or service authority. Where individual ships changed navy, name, or pennant, those later identities are retained on the ship pages rather than treated as separate vessels.
Service history and class roster
The class served Turkey, Spain, Pakistan, Iran, Taiwan, Italy, South Vietnam and South Korea. Renames and pennant changes are preserved as temporal identities on the same hulls.
The class roster currently links 21 ships. Named members include Bach Dang, Chuong Duong II, Ebro, Genil, Ham Tu II, IIN Shahraz, IRINS Hamzeh, and Mandorlo. The linked ships are associated with Republic of Vietnam Navy, Spanish Navy, Imperial Iranian Navy, Islamic Republic of Iran Navy, Italian Navy, Pakistan Navy, Republic of China Navy, Republic of Korea Navy, and Turkish Navy.
Historical significance
MSC-268 extended the multinational MDAP coastal-minesweeper program into a later construction block with increasingly differentiated customer configurations.
MSC-268 class is most useful when read as both a design and a group of individual careers. The class page establishes the shared technical and operational context; the linked ship pages preserve differences in construction, service identity, deployment, transfer, preservation, and fate where those details are documented.
Ships in this class
Showing 21 recorded class members.
- Bach Dang
- Chuong Duong II
- Ebro
- Genil
- Ham Tu II
- IIN Shahraz
- IRINS Hamzeh
- Mandorlo
- Odiel
- PNS Mukhtar
- PNS Munsif
- ROCS Yung Chou
- ROCS Yung Nien
- ROKS Ko Hung
- ROKS Kum Kok
- ROKS Kum San
- Tajo
- TCG Samsun
- TCG Seddülbahır
- TCG Sinop
- TCG Sürmene
Sources and further reading
- Motor Mine Sweeper Photo Archive — AMS / MSC Index ↗NavSource Naval History · accessed 2026-09-19
- Minesweepers MSO MSC MSI MHC MCM Post-War — ShipbuildingHistory ↗ShipbuildingHistory.com · accessed 2026-09-19
- MSC-268 / Samsun — NavSource Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive ↗NavSource Naval History · accessed 2026-09-20
- MSC-269 / Ebro — NavSource Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive ↗NavSource Naval History · accessed 2026-09-20
- MSC-276 / Shahrokh — NavSource Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive ↗NavSource Naval History · accessed 2026-09-20
- MSC-277 / Yung Nien — NavSource Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive ↗NavSource Naval History · accessed 2026-09-20
- Yung Nien MSC-157 — Old Warship Story, Republic of China Navy ↗Republic of China Navy · accessed 2026-09-20