Please report any broken links or trouble you might come across to the Webmaster Please take a moment to let us know so that we can correct any problems and make your visit as enjoyable and as informative as possible.

NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive
Left and right patches courtesy of Mike Smolinski
Center patches courtesy of Steve Loomis

Pluck (MSO 464)
ex-AM-464



Call sign:
November - Delta - Charlie - Papa
Aggressive Class Minesweeper:

  • Laid down 31 March 1952 at Wilmington Boat Works Inc., Wilmington, CA
  • Launched 6 February 1954
  • Commissioned USS Pluck (AM-464), 11 August 1954
  • Reclassified as an Ocean Minesweeper, MSO-464, 7 February 1955
  • Decommissioned 29 November 1990
  • Struck from the Navy Register 16 January 1991
  • Sold for scrap 25 September 1992 by Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service to Northwest Demolition Inc. of Wilsonville, Oregon for $19,000.

    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, 40mm mount replaced by one twin 20mm gun mount, two .50 cal. machine guns remain
  • 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
    Pluck (MSO 464)
    Pluck 209k 28 July 1954
    Bureau of Ships photo    		 Robert Hurst
    USS Pluck (MSO 464)
    Pluck 267k Steve Loomis
    Pluck 159k
    Pluck 144k
    Pluck 199k
    Pivot 18k Moored outboard of Pivot (MSO 463) Richard Miller, BMCS, USNR, Ret.
    Pluck 359k Long Beach, CA
    Ships in the background are: Cabildo (LSD 16), Talladega (LPA 208), Merrick (LKA 97) and Okanogan (LPA 220)
    Pivot 132k .
    Pluck 219k 13 August 1965
    Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
    Photo by Walter E. Frost from City of Vancouver Archives    		 Michael Mohl
    Gallant 321k 27 March 1971
    Steaming in company with Gallant (MSO 489) and an unidentified MSO
    U.S. Navy photo VBP-02491-3-71 by PH2(AC) J. B. Land    		 Charles Lamm
    Pluck 80k FOND FAREWELL: "Lib" takes a final look at yet another port in Southeast Asia as the Seventh Fleet minesweeper USS Pluck (MSO 464) prepares to get underway. The basset, whose full name is Liberty Hound, has the ability to sniff land even before the ship is in sight of it.
    Photo from the August 1971 edition of All Hands magazine    		 Tommy Trampp
    Pluck 487k c. 1987
    Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
    Photo by Rick Garcia    		 Chris Howell
    Commanding Officers
    01LT Willis C. McClelland, USN11 August 1954 - 31 March 1956
    02LCDR Boyd Thomson, USN31 March 1956 - September 1957
    03LT John Tallman Waterman, USNSeptember 1957 - September 1958
    04LT Michael Anthony Quartararo, USN - USNA Class of 1952September 1958 - February 1959
    05LCDR Karl John Christoph, Jr., USN - USNA Class of 1948-A
    Retired as Rear Admiral    		February 1959 - 18 July 1960
    06LCDR Robert Delphin Provost, Jr., USN18 July 1960 - 15 March 1963
    07LCDR Edmund Ilief Rosendahl, USN15 March 1963 - 4 March 1965
    08LCDR Robert Koller Leopold, USN4 March 1965 - 10 May 1967
    09LT/LCDR Lester Kjennerud Springstead, USN10 May 1967 - 20 February 1970
    10LCDR Jerome Thomas Murphy, USN20 February 1970 - September 1971
    11LCDR Arthur Dale Fox, USNSeptember 1971 - August 1972
    12LCDR Richard Martin Reass, USNAugust 1972 - March 1975
    13LCDR Robert Leroy Heustis, USNMarch 1975 - 10 March 1977
    14LCDR Marvin Richard Rice, USN10 March 1977 - February 1979
    15LCDR Richard Paul Genet, USN - USNA Class of 1965February 1979 - March 1981
    16CDR Thomas Edward Sego, USNMarch 1981 - April 1983
    17CDR Frank Wilder Hudson, Jr., USNApril 1983 - 23 November 1985
    18LCDR William Lester Snyder, USN - USNA Class of 197223 November 1985 - 12 February 1988
    19LCDR Richard George Merten, USN12 February 1988 - 12 May 1988
    20LCDR Jeffrey Kendall Sapp, USN12 May 1988 - 13 October 1988
    21LCDR Richard George Merten, USN13 October 1988 - May 1989
    22CDR Paul Eugene Stanton, USNMay 1989 - March 1990
    22LCDR David Spencer Armstrong, USNMarch 1990 - 29 November 1990
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves and Bill Gonyo
    View the Pluck (MSO-464)
    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
    Comments, Suggestions, E-mail Webmaster
    This page created by Gary P. Priolo and was maintained by Joseph M. Radigan (of blessed memory) & David Wright.
    All Pages © 1996 - 2023, NavSource History, All rights reserved.