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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive
Courtesy of Al Grazevich


All patches courtesy of Mike Smolinski

Constant (MSO 427)
ex-AM-427



Call sign:
November - Delta - Alpha - Delta
Aggressive Class Minesweeper:

  • Laid down 16 August 1951 at Fulton Shipyard, Antioch, CA
  • Launched 14 February 1953
  • Commissioned USS Constant (AM-427), 8 September 1954
  • Reclassified as an Ocean Minesweeper, MSO-427, 7 February 1955
  • Decommissioned 30 September 1992
  • Struck from the Navy Register 9 March 1994
  • Sold for scrap to Crowley Marine, removal date 29 September 1999
  • Scrapped 1 April 2001.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 630 t.(lt), 755 t.(fl)
  • Length 172'
  • Beam 35'
  • Draft 10'
  • Speed 14 kts.
  • Complement 80
  • Armament: As built, one 40mm gun mount and two .50 cal machine guns. Final configuration, bow gun replaced by one twin 20mm gun mount, two .50 cal. machine guns remain
  • Propulsion: Four Packard ID1700 diesel engines, two shafts, two controllable pitch propellers.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    USS Constant (MSO 427)
    Constant 158k 102 Minesweepers
    Web Site
    Dick Lewis
    Constant 86k U.S. Navy photo David Buell
    Constant 141k Off Point Loma, CA Richard Miller, BMCS, USNR, Ret.
    Constant 29k
    Constant 205k Tommy Trampp
    Constant 105k
    Constant 36k Zippo lighter Mike Smolinski
    Photo added 28 August 2019
    Constant 277k c. October 1957
    Entering the San Francisco Golden Gate.
    Photo by Allied Photographers of San Francisco, CA    		 Robert M. Cieri
    Constant 171k c. 1960
    Leading sister ships into port after mine exercises in the Pacific
    U.S. Navy photo from the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.    		 Joseph M. Radigan (of blessed memory)
    Constant 318k 9 August 1965
    Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
    Photo by Walter E. Frost from City of Vancouver Archives    		 Michael Mohl
    Constant 289k c. April 1967
    Off the coast of Vietnam
    Photo taken from USS Caliente (AO 53)    		 Bill Dougherty
    Constant 294k
    Constant 407k c. 1987
    Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
    Photo by Rick Garcia    		 Chris Howell
    Constant 91k Campbell Shipyard, San Diego between September 1987 and January 1988 Chris Ronan
    Constant 103k
    Constant 303k 1 July 1988
    Naval Base San Diego, CA
    U.S. Navy photo DN-ST-89-09594 by PH1 Mike Flynn, USN    		 Bill Gonyo
    Constant
    Constant 87k c. 1999
    At Mare Island Naval Shipyard being stripped of useful equipment prior to scrappingPhoto from http://www.dan.keller.com/lucid3.html    		 Robert Hurst
    Constant 25k
    Commanding Officers
    01LCDR Raymond Merritt Weimer, USN8 September 1954 - 14 February 1955
    02LCDR Ralph Ellsworth Graham, USN14 February 1955 - 17 August 1956
    03LCDR Joseph Leroy (Roy) King, USN17 August 1956 - 13 August 1958
    04LCDR Andrew George Nelson, USN - USNA Class of 194913 August 1958 - 23 March 1960
    05LCDR William Harvey Crosby, USN - USNA Class of 194623 March 1960 - 21 July 1961
    06LCDR Robert Allison Hine Murline, USN21 July 1961 - 21 May 1963
    07LCDR Raphael Barry Moore, USN21 May 1963 - 23 August 1965
    08LCDR William Leo Brennan, USN23 August 1965 - 18 April 1967
    09LCDR Calvin Edward Kennedy, USN18 April 1967 - 29 March 1969
    10LCDR Lawrence Bertram Blumberg, USN29 March 1969 - 1 June 1971
    11LCDR Raymond Alexander Sharpe, Jr., USN1 June 1971 - 29 June 1972
    12LT James Michael Loome, USN - USNA Class of 196629 June 1972 - 13 September 1974
    13LT Jack Edward Martin, USN - USNA Class of 196913 September 1974 - 5 April 1977
    14LT Michael Don Barker, USN5 April 1977 - 19 June 1977
    15LCDR Robert Kenneth Peters, USN19 June 1977 - 8 April 1980
    16CDR Clement Harry Ward, USN8 April 1980 - 27 March 1982
    17LCDR Ted Shannon Wile, USN27 March 1982 - 17 March 1984
    18CDR Dewey Laland Whitmire, USN17 March 1984 - 19 April 1986
    19LCDR Theodore Lawrence Kaye, USN - USNA Class of 197219 April 1986 - 9 April 1988
    20CDR Paul Eugene Stanton, USN9 April 1988 - 10 January 1989
    21LCDR David Spencer Armstrong, USN10 January 1989 - 6 October 1989
    22CDR Richard George Merten, USN6 October 1989 - 13 April 1990
    23LCDR Keith Leon Wray, USN13 April 1990 - 10 April 1991
    24LCDR Leviticus A. Lewis, USN10 April 1991 - 30 September 1992
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves
    View the Constant (MSO-427)
    DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Website
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    102 Minesweepers (MSO) Oceangoing Minesweepers
    Back To The Main Photo Index Back To the Mine Warfare Ship Photo Index Back to the Ocean Minesweeper (MSO) Photo Index
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