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


Courtesy of Paul Haaze

Agile (MSO-421)
ex-AM-421



Call sign:
November - Alpha - Uniform - Xray
Agile Class Minesweeper:

  • Laid down 22 February 1954 as AM-421 by the Luders Marine Construction Co., Stamford, Connecticut
  • Reclassified as an Ocean Minesweeper, MSO-421, 5 February 1955
  • Launched 19 November 1955
  • Commissioned USS Agile (MSO-421), 21 June 1956 at New York Naval Shipyard, Brooklyn, NY
  • Decommissioned 28 July 1972 at Charleston, SC and laid up in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet, Norfolk Group
  • Struck from the Navy Register in September 1977
  • Sold for scrap in February 1980 to Union Minerals and Alloys Corp. of New York for $35,000.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 755 t.
  • Length 172'
  • Beam 35'
  • Draft 10'
  • Speed 14 kts.
  • Complement 78
  • Armament: One 40mm gun mount and two .50 cal. machine guns
  • Propulsion: Four 760shp Packard V-16 diesel engines (later replaced with four Waukesha diesel engines), Packard V-8 240kw ships service generator, one General Motors 6-71, 100kw generator, one
    General Motors 6-71 60kw generator, two controllable pitch propellers.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Agile
    110242109    		 435k The U.S. Navy minesweepers Salute (MSO-470), left, and Agile (MSO-421) under construction at Luders Marine Construction, Stamford, Connecticut, in 1954. Agile was laid down on 22 February 1954. National Archives Identifier: 6933269
    Photo courtesy of catalog.archives.gov, via Robert Hurst.
    Agile
    110242110    		 521k The U.S. Navy minesweepers Agile (MSO-421) under construction at Luders Marine Construction Co., Stamford, Connecticut, on 13 September 1954. Agile was commissioned on 21 June 1956. National Archives Identifier: 6932482
    Photo courtesy of catalog.archives.gov, via Robert Hurst.
    Agile 90k Line drawing
    Agile 44k Robert Hurst
    Agile 257k Undated post card
    Caption on back reads:
    U.S. Naval Station
    Charleston, SC

    Atlantic Fleet Minesweepers of Mine Division 83, USS Bulwark (MSO 425), USS Agile (MSO 421), USS Aggressive (MSO 422), and USS Bold (MSO 424), participate in Change of Command Ceremony for Commander Mine Squadron 8    		 Tommy Trampp
    Agile 172k Undated post card
    Caption on back reads:
    ATLANTIC FLEET MINE FORCE HEADQUARTERS
    U.S. Naval Base
    Charleston, SC

    Two of the ocean minesweepers and minesweeping ships, assigned to this command [Agile and Bulwark (MSO 425)] assigned to this command. Small and compact, they have the dangerous mission of searching for enemy mines, locating them by electronic and magnetic means, and destroying enemy mines after they have been located
    Photo by Ernest Ferguson
    Agile 19k A stern view reveals the clutter of paravane "pigs", winches, hoists, acoustic reels and other tools of the minesweeper's trade
    		Photo from 102 Minesweepers Website
    Agile 91k c. 1957
    Contributed by William H.Evans    		 Tom Lawson
    Agile 40k c. 1957
    Patras, Greece
    Agile (astern), and USS Bulwark (MSO-425) outboard of USS Bold (MSO-424), during Agile's last Mediterranean cruise
    Photo from 102 Minesweepers Website    		 Robert Hurst
    Agile 90k c. 1960
    Boston, MA    		 © Richard Leonhardt
    Agile 62k Replacement photo: c. 1960s
    U.S. Navy photo    		 Original photo: 102 Minesweepers Website
    Dick Lewis
    Replacement photo: Robert Hurst
    Commanding Officers
    01LT Herbert Dudley Mills, Jr., USN - USNA Class of 194621 June 1956
    02LCDR Walter William Doescher, USN1960 - December 1961
    03LCDR Lincoln Judson Speed, USNDecember 1961 - 8 October 1963
    04LCDR Warren Lewis Story, USN8 October 1963 - July 1965
    05LCDR Philip George Charest, USN - USNA Class of 1953December 1965 - 21 November 1966
    06LT John Franklin Jordan, USN (XO in temporary command)21 November 1966 - 21 December 1966
    07LCDR Philip George Charest, USN21 December 1966 - December 1967
    08LCDR Garry Leonard Wilson, USNDecember 1967 - December 1968
    09LCDR Harry James Franklin Korrell, Jr., USN - USNA Class of 1959August 1969 - May 1970
    10LTJG Robert Norman Norris, Jr., USN (XO in temporary command)May 1970 - June 1970
    11LCDR Harry James Franklin Korrell, Jr., USNJune 1970 - 30 November 1971
    12LCDR Edgar Young M. Henderson, USNR30 November 1971 - 28 July 1972
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves
    View the Agile (MSO-421)
    DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Website
    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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