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


Courtesy of Tommy Trampp

Nimble (MSO 459)
ex-AM-459



Call sign:
November - Mike - Kilo - Yankee
Aggressive Class Minesweeper:

  • Laid down 27 April 1953 as AM-459 by Higgins Inc., New Orleans, LA
  • Launched 6 August 1954
  • Commissioned USS Nimble (MSO-459), 11 May 1955
  • Decommissioned 24 November 1970
  • Struck from the Naval Register 1 November 1976
  • Sold for scrapping 6 September 1981 by the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service to Tuscon One Hour Inc., Cincinnati, OH, for $45,002.

    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
  • Propulsion: Four Packard ID1700 diesel engines, replaced by four Waukasha Motors Co. diesel engines, two shafts, two controllable pitch propellers.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Nimble 162k . John R. Barrett
    Nimble 71k . Richard Miller, BMCS, USNR, Ret.
    Nimble 234k c. 1958
    Photo by Skyfotos from the 1958/1959 edition of Jane's Fighting Ships    		 Original photo: 102 Minesweeper
    Web Site Dick Lewis
    Replacement photo: Robert Hurst
    Nimble 382k These minesweepers look smart and sturdy as they execute coordinated movements in training. Shown are USS Skill
    (MSO 471)    , Nimble, USS Pinnacle (MSO 462) and USS Sagacity (MSO 469).
    U.S. Navy photo from the April 1960 edition of All Hands magazine    		 Joseph M. Radigan (of blessed memory)
    Commanding Officers
    01LT John Timothy O'Brien, USN11 May 1955 - 27 May 1955
    02LT George Young, USN27 May 1955 - 1957
    03LCDR John Clarence Turner, USN1957 - 1959
    04LCDR Jerome Edward Grause, USNMay 1959 - 1 August 1960
    05LCDR Harvey Robert Phillips, USN1 August 1960 - 1962
    06LCDR Robert Edward (Pat) Reddick, Jr., USN1962 - 1963
    07LCDR/CDR George Albert Sorg, USN1963 - 3 March 1965
    08LT/LCDR George Emery Biles, USN - USNA Class of 19563 March 1965 - 1 June 1968
    09LT/LCDR James Bradley McKinney, USN - USNA Class of 19601 June 1968 - June 1970
    10LTJG Peter Roderick Eisenhauer, USN (Acting)June 1970 - July 1970
    11LCDR Gerard Holbrook Dalton, USNJuly 1970 - 24 November 1970
    ??LCDR Robert Edward Blouin, USN
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves and Gene Maresca
    View the Nimble (MSO-459)
    DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Website
    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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