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


Courtesy of Mike Smolinski

Direct (MSO-430)
ex-AM-430



Call sign:
November - Mike - Xray - Bravo
Dash Class Minesweeper:

  • Laid down 2 February 1952 at Hiltebrant Dry Dock Co., Kingston, NY
  • Launched 27 May 1953
  • Commissioned USS Direct (AM-430), 9 July 1954
  • Reclassified as an Ocean Minesweeper, MSO-430, 7 February 1955
  • Decommissioned 1 October 1982 and struck from the Naval Register
  • Sold for scrap 26 January 1984 to Wayne Hobbs of Huntington, CA, for $22,229.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 775 t.
  • Length 172'
  • Beam 35'
  • Draft 12'
  • Speed 14 kts.
  • Complement 78
  • 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: Two General Motors 8-278A diesel engines, two shafts, two controllable pitch propellers.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Direct 54k U.S. Navy photos Tom Sparkman
    Direct 75k
    Direct 130k Valletta, Malta Richard Miller, BMCS, USNR, Ret.
    Direct 124k Ships plaque
    Direct 210k Damage to bow after collision with Canisteo (AO 99) in 1956 (See story below)
    Photo from Bob Cantrell    		 Tom Lawson
    Direct 58k c. June 1960
    Photo from Paul Milana, EN2
    Direct 143k c. 1960
    Photo from Paul Milana, EN2
    Commanding Officers
    01LCDR Benjamin Harold Dean, USN -USNA Class of 19459 July 1954 - 1956
    02LT Roland H. Almonrode, USN1956
    03LCDR John Kaufman, USN - USNA Class of 19461956 - October 1958
    04LCDR Burr Curtis Wilcox, Jr., USNOctober 1958 - 1960
    05LCDR Stephen P. Douglas, USN1960 - 1962
    06LCDR Thomas Michael Vojtek, USN1964 - 4 October 1965
    07LCDR Daniel Gene Powell, USN4 October 1965 - 1967
    08LCDR Donald Tipton Cannell, USN - USNA Class of 19531965
    09LCDR William Wayne Pippenger, USN1967 - 25 September 1969
    10LCDR Thomas Michael McNicholas, Jr., USN25 September 1969 - July 1971
    11LCDR Michael Hitchcock Ballard, USN - USNA Class of 1964July 1971 - 21 August 1972
    12LCDR Frederick Gillinder Prickett, Jr., USN - USNA Class of 196521 August 1972 - 6 October 1974
    13LCDR Floyston Allan Weeks, USN6 October 1974 - April 1977
    14LCDR Lawrence Lee Wagenseil, USN - Retired as Captain1977 - 1978
    15CDR Joseph Warren Davis, USNApril 1981 - 1 October 1982
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves, Jon Powell and John P. Guyeski
    View the Direct (MSO 430)
    DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Website
    "Story of the 1956 Collision"
    by Bob Cantrell, EMC, USN, Ret.
    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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