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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

MSO-479
ex-AM-479


AM-479 was built for Portugal
AM-478 Class Fleet Minesweeper:

  • Laid down 1 October 1953 as AM-479 by the Bellingham Shipyards Co., Bellingham, WA
  • Launched 22 June 1954
  • Sponsored by Mrs. H. O. Mills
  • Reclassified by U. S. Navy as an Ocean Minesweeper, MSO-479, 7 February 1955
  • Completed 1 June 1955, transferred to Portugal and named NRP Pico (M 416)
  • Decommissioned 12 August 1974 and transferred to Belgium for spare parts
  • Transferred in 1985 to the Belgium Sea Cadets
  • Partly burned out in 1997 at Ostend, Belgium and sank a few years later
  • Scrapped in 2011 at Ostend.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 665 t.
  • Length 172'
  • Beam 35'
  • Draft 10'
  • Speed 13.5 kts.
  • Complement 39
  • Armament: One 40mm mount and two .50 cal. machine guns
  • Propulsion: Two 800shp General Motors diesel engines, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    NRP Pico (M 416)
    AM-479 25k Namesake: Pico is an island in the Central Group of the Portuguese Azores Tommy Trampp
    Photo added 3 March 2020
    AM-479 500k 2 June 1955
    Seattle, WA
    Newspaper caption accompanying photo - CHANGE OF FLAGS: Portuguese navy sailors filed aboard a minesweeper yesterday at Pier 91 after the vessel was transferred to Portugal. The minesweeper, the 479, was built by the Bellingham Shipyards. It is the 57th Navy ship transferred to a foreign government here under terms of the Mutual Assistance Program. Dr. Fernando Mario de Oliveira, Portuguese consul in San Francisco, accepted the ship. It was renamed the Pico. Navy Capt. Arnold H. Newcomb represented the United States
    U.S. Navy photo    		 Bill Gonyo
    AM-479 75k c. 1967 Robert Hurst
    Belgium Hulk
    AM-479 30k © Brice Dehasse
    AM-479 83k Sunk at Ostend, Belgium Frederic Logghe
    There is no DANFS history available for MSO-479
    Additional Resources and Web Sites 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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