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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

MSO-483
ex-AM-483


Courtesy of Arie van Mazijk


AM-483 was built for the Netherlands.



Mercuur call sign:
Papa - Alpha - Romeo - Echo
AM-480 Class Fleet Minesweeper:

  • Laid down 19 February 1952 as AM-483 by Peterson Builders Inc., Sturgeon Bay, WI
  • Launched 17 January 1953
  • Completed 18 June 1954
  • Transferred to the Netherlands 22 July 1954 and commissioned Onverschrokken (M 886)
  • Reclassified by U. S. Navy as an Ocean Minesweeper, MSO-483, 7 February 1955
  • Converted to a Torpedo Retriever Craft and reclassified M-865 in 1971
  • Renamed Mercuur and reclassified A-856, 11 May 1973
  • Decommissioned 12 February 1987
  • Preserved as a museum ship as part of Amsterdam's nautical museum (Nautisch Kwartier)
  • Relocated 24 April 1993 to Schveningen, Holland.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 750 t.
  • Length 171'
  • Beam 35'
  • Draft 10' 4"
  • Speed 15 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
    AM-483
    MSO-483 157k 17 January 1953
    Peterson Builders photo from the Door County Maritime Museum, Sturgeon Bay, WI    		 Michael Cosgrove
    MSO-483 165k
    AM-484 55k Minesweeper hulls AM-483, 484, 485 for the Netherlands in the background. In the foreground is the last American-made side-wheeler still afloat in the U.S. and used as a floating warehouse. Restored and now serves as a museum in Sandusky, Ohio
    Photo courtesy Peterson Builders    		 Mercuur Museum Website
    Onverschrokken (M 886)
    MSO-483 125k 22 July 1954
    Boston, MA
    Placed in service    		 Arie van Mazijk
    MSO-483 128k Still wearing her U.S. Navy hull number and flying The Netherlands flag Pieter Bakels
    MSO-483 67k c. 1954
    Den Helder, Holland
    Still wearing her U.S. hull number    		 Arie van Mazijk
    MSO-483 95k c. 1954
    Working on her name board
    Mercuur (A 856)
    MSO-483 60k . Mercuur Museum Website
    MSO-483 71k . MSO Group - Holland
    MSO-483 97k
    MSO-483 262k . Pieter Bakels
    MSO-483 50k . Arie van Mazijk
    MSO-483 52k
    MSO-483 55k
    MSO-483 76k
    Museum Ship Mercuur
    MSO-483 90k 6 September 1990
    Laid up at the Scheepwart Museum, Amsterdam
    Photo courtesy Karsten Petersen    		 Robert Hurst
    There is no DANFS history available for MSO-483
    View the Miscellaneous photos of Mercuur
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