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

Sturdy (MSO 494)
ex-AM-494



Call sign:
November - Sierra - Hotel - Uniform
Aggressive Class Minesweeper:

  • Laid down 15 October 1954 as AM-494 at Boward Marine, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
  • Reclassified as an Ocean Minesweeper, MSO-494, 7 February 1955
  • Launched 28 January 1956
  • Commissioned USS Sturdy (MSO-494), 23 October 1957
  • Decommissioned 1 July 1972 at Charleston, SC and towed to Inactive Ship Facility, Norfolk, VA for storage
  • Struck from the Navy Register 1 September 1977
  • Sold for scrap 1 May 1987 by the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service to C. B. Herter, Jr. of Hopewell, VA for $27,019.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 630 t.(lt), 755 t.(fl)
  • Length 172'
  • Beam 35'
  • Draft 10'
  • Speed 14 kts.
  • Complement 80
  • 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, two shafts, two controllable pitch propellers.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Sturdy 93k Photo courtesy John L. Love Al Hines
    Sturdy 85k Richard Miller, BMCS, USNR, Ret.
    Sturdy 39k
    Sturdy 266k c. 1950/1960 era
    Navy Yard Charleston, SC
    Swerve (MSO 495), Adroit (MSO 509), Sturdy and an unidentified MSO in Dry Dock No, 2. The destroyer Manley (DD 940) and tank landing ship Tallahatchie County (LST 1154) are in the distance    		 Robert Hall
    Sturdy 140k Aggressive-Class Minesweeper Recognition Poster Red China 1966. U.S. Navy "capable", "top", "agile" ocean-going minesweepers. The Aggressive-class minesweepers are a class of U.S.-built minesweepers. They are designated as MSO (Mine Sweeper Ocean), distinguishing them from the smaller coastal MSCs and inshore MSIs. The photo shows USS Sturdy (AM-494/MSO-494), an Aggressive-class minesweeper Tommy Trampp
    Fidelity 259k c. 1968
    Charleston Naval Shipyard, Charleston, SC
    Fidelity (MSO 443) moored inboard of an unidentified MSO and Sturdy    		 Ken Lusk
    Photo added 19 June 2020
    Commanding Officers
    01LCDR Albert Tilden Sprague, III, USN - USNA Class of 194623 October 1957 - 2 February 1960
    02LCDR Alan Grady Hodge, USN2 February 1960 - 1962
    03LCDR Richard Edward Flynn, USN1962 - 24 July 1963
    04LCDR Max Henry LaSell, USN24 July 1963 - 19 May 1965
    05LCDR Richard Lee Schreadley, USN - Awarded two Navy Commendation Medals with Combat V and the Combat Action Ribbon
    Retired as Commander    		19 May 1965 - 7 July 1967
    06LCDR Robert John Hiebner, Jr., USN7 July 1967 - 16 August 1969
    07LCDR John Ross Lawson, USN16 August 1969 - 22 September 1970
    08LCDR John Anthony Narcisco, USN22 September 1970 - 2 November 1970
    09LT John Joseph Uhrin, III, USN2 November 1970
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves, Joseph M. Radigan (of blessed memory) and Robert Giles
    View the Sturdy (MSO 494)
    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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