 The ship was laid down on 28 December 1951 at Higgins Inc., New Orleans, Louisiana and launched on 10 April 1953.The vessel was commissioned USS "Exploit" (AM-440) on 31 March 1954 and redesignated as an ocean minesweeper MSO-440 on 7 February 1955.As built the vessel was armed one single 40 mm gun mount on the bow and two .50 caliber machine guns.