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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Method (MSF 264)
ex-AM-264



Call sign:
Nan - Peter - Able - Love


Method served the Navies of the United States and the Soviet Union

Admirable Class Minesweeper:

  • Laid down 7 June 1943 by the American Shipbuilding Co., Lorain, OH
  • Launched 23 October 1943
  • Commissioned USS Method (AM-264), 10 July 1944
  • Decommissioned 20 May 1945
  • Transferred to the Soviet Union 21 May 1945 at Cold Bay, AK and reclassified T-276
  • Assigned to the Pacific Fleet 17 June 1945
  • Transferred 23 October 1947 to the Ministry of Transport and converted to a whaling vessel
  • Transferred to "Glavpromorrybprom" 7 August 1948 and named Purga
  • Reclassified by U.S. Navy as a Fleet Minesweeper (Steel Hull), MSF-264, 7 February 1955
  • Scrapped in the early 1960s
  • Struck from the Navy Register 1 January 1983.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 945 t. (fl)
  • Length 184' 6"
  • Beam 33'
  • Draft 9' 9"
  • Speed 14.8 kts.
  • Complement 104
  • Armament: One 3"/50 cal. dual purpose mount, one twin 40mm gun mount, six 20mm gun mounts, one depth charge projector (hedgehogs), four depth charge projectors (K-guns), and two depth
    charge tracks
  • Propulsion: Two 1,710shp Cooper Bessemer GSB-8 diesel engines, National Supply Co. single reduction gear, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image
    Size Image Description Source
    Method (AM-264)
    American Ship Building
    110225510
    2.29k The Method (AM-264) was built in the American Ship Building Company yards in Lorain, Ohio. Photo courtesy of theshipyards.com
    Mainstay & Method 89k Method and Mainstay (AM 261) under construction Historical Collections of the Great Lakes
    USS Method (AM-264)
    Method 112k Method (AM-264) view from the starboard side wearing camouflage Design 21D taken by NAS Norfolk on 11 January 1945. The measure here should be Measure 32, but the darkest color appears to be navy blue instead of black, so this may be Measure 32a
    National Archives photo 80-G-307276, courtesy of C. Lee Johnson, Ships of the U.S. Navy in WWII “Dazzle” Camouflage
    Mike Green

    Commanding Officers
    01LT Mason Albert Cartwright, USNR10 July 1944 - 20 May 1945
    Courtesy of Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves and R. A. Moody

    View the Method (MSF 264)
    DANFS History entry located on the Naval History and Heritage Command website
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