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


Contributed by Mike Smolinski

Prime (MSO 466)
ex-AM-466



Call sign:
November - India - Golf - November
Aggressive Class Minesweeper:

  • The second Prime was laid down 30 December 1952 by Wilmington Boat Works, Wilmington, CA
  • Commissioned USS Prime (AM 466), 11 October 1954
  • Reclassified as an Ocean Minesweeper, MSO-446, 7 February 1955
  • Struck from the Naval Register 1 October 1976
  • Sold for scrap 7 January 1977 by the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service to Edward Hixson, Los Alamitos, California, for $26,769.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 630 t.
  • Length 172'
  • Beam 36'
  • Draft 10'
  • Speed 16 kts.
  • Complement 72
  • 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, 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
    Prime (MSO 466)
    Prime 314k c. September 1954
    Running acceptance trials
    National Archives photo 19-NN-AM-466 Prime-147315 from the Bureau of Ships collection    		 National Archives
    USS Prime (MSO 466)
    Prime 538k
    Prime 160k
    Prime 115k
    Prime 318k 6 December 1963
    Underway off Oahu, Hawaii
    National Archives photo by PH1 Lonnel Mall    		 Naval History and Heritage Command
    Prime 246k Prime and a Lockheed SP-2H Neptune from Patrol Squadron 4 (VP-4) on patrol off the coast of Vietnam, circa 1965
    U.S. Navy photo - U.S. Navy All Hands magazine January 1966    		 Wikipedia
    Commanding Officers
    01LT William F. Longton, USN11 October 1954
    Courtesy Joseph M. Radigan (of blessed memory)
    View the Prime (MSO 466)
    DANFS History entry located on the Naval History and Heritage Command 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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