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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Courtesy of Mike Smolinski

Pivot (MSO 463)
ex-AM-463


Pivot served the Navies of the United States and Spain.



Guadalmedina call sign:
Echo - Bravo - India - Xray
Aggressive Class Minesweeper:

  • Laid down 31 March 1952 by the Wilmington Boat Works, Wilmington, CA
  • Launched 9 January 1954
  • Commissioned USS Pivot (AM-463), 12 July 1954
  • Reclassified as an Ocean Minesweeper, MSO-463, 7 February 1955
  • Decommissioned 1 July 1971
  • Struck from the Naval Register 1 August 1974
  • Loaned to Spain under the Security Assistance Program 1 July 1971 and renamed Guadalmedina (M-42)
  • Purchased by Spain 1 August 1974
  • Scrapped in 1999
  • Struck from the Spanish Navy list 18 January 2001 per Order 600/02612/01.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 630 t.(lt), 755 t.(fl)
  • Length 172'
  • Beam 35'
  • Draft 10'
  • Speed 14 kts.
  • Complement 80
  • Armament: As built, one single 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 Pivot (MSO 463)
    Pivot 56k . USS Pivot Website
    Pivot 18k Moored inboard of Pluck (MSO 464) Richard Miller, BMCS, USNR, Ret.
    Pivot 81k c. 1960
    Photos from Paul Milana, EN2    		 Tom Lawson
    Energy 100k Energy (MSO 436) and Pivot (in background), pass through locks in the Columbia River
    U.S. Navy photo from the January 1962 issue of All Hands magazine    		 Joseph M. Radigan (of blessed memory)
    Pivot 245k 13 August 1965
    Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
    Photo by Walter E. Frost from City of Vancouver Archives    		 Michael Mohl
    Pivot 82k c. 1966
    Long Beach, CA    		 Richard Miller, BMCS, USNR, Ret.
    Pivot 198k Pivot of Mine Division 92 departs Long Beach, California for Market Time patrol training on 9 September 1968
    National Archives photo 80-G-K-57818    		 Mike Green
    Pivot 246k c. 1970
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo UA 543.05    		 Robert Hurst
    Guadalmedina (M-42)
    Guadalmedina 81k 25 May 1988
    Mahón, Balearic Islands, Menorca, Spain    		 Ignacio López
    Commanding Officers
    01LT Robert Martin Collins, USN - Awarded two Silver Star Medals, the Legion of Merit with Combat "V", three Bronze Stars with Combat "V", four Purple Hearts, seven Air Medals, the Joint Service Commendation Medal, the Navy Commendation Medal with Combat "V" and the Combat Action Ribbon
    Retired as Rear Admiral    		12 July 1954 - October 1955
    02LCDR Oscar Fisher Rapelyea, USNOctober 1955 - 30 December 1957
    03LCDR Leonard Curtis Chambers, USN30 December 1957 - March 1960
    04LCDR Robert John Brabant, USNMarch 1960 - 19 July 1961
    05LCDR Harvey Leroy Decker, USN19 July 1961 - 8 July 1963
    06LT/LCDR John Joseph Viera, USN8 July 1963 - 1964
    07LCDR Robert Henry Fall, III, USN23 December 1964 - January 1967
    08LCDR David Ervin Buck, USNJanuary 1967 - 25 January 1969
    09LCDR Robert Charles Wiley, USN - USNA Class of 195925 January 1969 - 31 March 1970
    10LCDR Joseph Eugene Boland, Jr., USN31 March 1970 - 19 June 1971
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves
    View the Pivot (MSO-463)
    DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Website
    Additional Resources and Websites 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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