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


Courtesy of Rick Christie, Sr.; Mike Smolinski; Wiley Boles and Wolfgang Hechler

Pledge (MSO-492)
ex-AM-492



Call sign:
November - Oscar - Bravo - Foxtrot


Pledge served the Navies of the United States and the Republic of China.
Aggressive Class Minesweeper:

  • Laid down 24 June 1954 as AM-492 by the J. M. Martinac Shipbuilding Corp., Tacoma, Washington
  • Reclassified as an Ocean Minesweeper, MSO-492, 7 February 1955
  • Launched 20 July 1955
  • Sponsored by Mrs.Theodore Ultsch
  • Commissioned USS Pledge (MSO-492), 20 April 1956
  • Decommissioned 31 January 1994 and struck from the Navy Register
  • Sold to Taiwan 9 September 1994 under the Security Assistance Program and renamed Yung Teh (M 1309)
  • Fate unknown.

    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
    Pledge (MSO 492)
    Pledge 57k 20 July 1955
    Launching
    M.S. Erdahl, Port Commissioner, was the Master of Ceremonies. Mrs. Theodore Ultsch did the christening assisted by Miss Janet Bruder, as the flower girl. The featured speaker was Rear Admiral [Roland N.] Smoot, USN, commander of the mine force of the U.S. Pacific Fleet    		 J. M. Martinac Shipbuilding Corp.
    USS Pledge (MSO 492)
    Pledge 92k Naval Minewarfare
    Association
    Pledge 97k USS Pledge Website
    Don Shelton
    Pledge 52k USS Pledge Website
    Don Shelton and P. M. Leenhauts
    Pledge 69k Pledge bumper sticker Robert Harper, EM2(SW), USS Pledge '83-87
    Pledge 58k U.S. Navy photo Tom Langford
    Pledge 125k U.S. Navy photo David Buell
    Pledge 119k Richard Miller, BMCS, USNR, Ret.
    Pledge 90k c. 1957
    Hong Kong, British Crown Colony
    Pledge in the center    		 Lyle Burnett
    Pledge 209k 19 August 1960
    Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
    Photo by Walter E. Frost from City of Vancouver Archives    		 Michael Mohl
    MINDIV 72 617k Ocean minesweepers of Mine Division 73 steam together in Pacific. Top to Bottom: Illusive (MSO 448), Conquest (MSO 488), Esteem (MSO 438), Gallant (MSO 489) and Pledge. The sweepers are working out of their home port at Long Beach, CA
    U.S. Navy photo from the August 1965 edition of All Hands magazine    		 Joe Radigan (of blessed memory)
    MSO-492
    110249200    		 904k Pledge (MSO-492) patrols The South China Sea Coastline of Republic of Vietnam as part of Operation Market Time, October 1967. USN photo # 1142218 courtesy of National Archives via Bob Canchola.
    Pledge 433k 6 June 1990
    Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
    Photo by Rick Garcia    		 Chris Howell
    Yung Teh (M 1309)
    Pledge 21k Dick Lewis
    Commanding Officers
    01LCDR Thomas Dominic Pfundstein, USN20 April 1956 - 25 September 1957
    02LCDR Frank K. Wodburn, USN25 September 1957 - 3 August 1959
    03LCDR Theodore Roy Wilkinson, USN3 August 1959 - 14 April 1960
    04LCDR Leroy Ripley Broun, USN14 April 1960 - 25 April 1960
    05LCDR Ralph Ellsworth Graham, USN25 April 1960 - 11 July 1960
    06LCDR Richard Warren Hanson, USN11 July 1960 - 26 November 1962
    07LT David Arthur Bayer, USN26 November 1962 - 16 November 1964
    08LCDR Douglas Arthur Stewart, USN16 November 1964 - 21 April 1967
    09LCDR Richard Fay Pittenger, USN - Retired as Rear Admiral21 April 1967 - 12 July 1968
    10LT William Campbell, Jr., USN - USNA Class of 195712 July 1968 - 9 September 1968
    11LCDR Robert Joseph Amend, USN - USNA Class of 19609 September 1968 - 5 October 1970
    12LCDR Vernon Lee Rosson, USN5 October 1970 - 21 July 1972
    13LT Michael Darnell Robertson, USN - USNA Class of 196721 July 1972 - 15 November 1974
    14LT Richard Cline "Dick" Branum, USN - USNA Class of 196715 November 1974 - 7 April 1977
    15LCDR Thomas Christopher Ellis, USN7 April 1977 - 31 March 1979
    16CDR Arthur Victor Schultz, Jr., USN31 March 1979 - 25 July 1981
    17CDR James C. Schuhl, USN25 July 1981 - 5 May 1983
    18CDR Thomas Edward Sego, USN5 May 1983 - 25 July 1983
    19CDR Edmund Joseph Hunt, Jr., USN25 July 1983 - 7 December 1985
    20LCDR Charles George Belcher, USN7 December 1985 - 16 December 1987
    21LCDR Stephen Richard Harrington, USN16 December 1987 - 8 January 1988
    22CDR James Edgar Keys, Jr., USN8 January 1988 - 21 July 1988
    23CDR Bruce Thomas Van Belle, USN21 July 1988 - 24 February 1989
    24LCDR Jeffrey Kendall Sapp, USN24 February 1989 - 24 November 1989
    25LT David Martin Bouton, USN24 November 1989 - 10 January 1990
    26CDR Daniel Allen Burns, USN - USNA Class of 197410 January 1990 - 6 April 1990
    27LCDR Jeffrey Kendall Sapp, USN6 April 1990 - 28 June 1990
    28CDR Peter Matthew Leenhouts, USN28 June 1990 - 16 October 1992
    29LCDR William Conrad Fosseen, USN16 October 1992 - 31 January 1994
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves, Peter M. Leenhouts and Richard Hanson
    View the Pledge (MSO-492)
    DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Website
    Additional Resources and Websites of Interest
    102 Minesweepers (MSO) Oceangoing Minesweepers
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