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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive
Right patch contributed by Mike Smolinski

Engage (MSO 433)
ex-AM-433



Call sign:
November - Mike - Oscar - Mike
Aggressive Class Minesweeper:

  • Laid down 7 November 1951 at Colberg Boat Works, Stockton, CA
  • Launched 18 June 1953
  • Commissioned USS Engage (AM-433), 29 June 1954
  • Reclassified as an Ocean Minesweeper, MSO-433, 7 February 1955
  • Decommissioned 30 December 1991
  • Struck from the Navy Register 20 April 1992
  • Sold for scrap 15 April 1994 to NRA Acquisition, Inc. of New York, NY and sub-contracted to Wilmington Resources Inc. of Wilmington, NC
  • Repossessed by the Navy after contractor defaulted due to sub-contractor being closed by state of North Carolina for environmental pollution
  • Sold for scrap 4 December 2000 to Baltimore Marine Industries of Baltimore, MD.

    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, bow gun 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. diesels, two shafts, two controllable pitch propellers.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Engage 43k - J. William Cupp's
    Website for
    USS Engage
    Engage 146k . William Lange
    Fortify, Engage & Impervious 246k Fortify (MSO 446), Engage, and Impervious (MSO 449) steaming with an unidentified minesweeper Tom Lawson
    Engage/Fortify/Impervious 538k Portland, Oregon
    Engage, Fortify (AM 433) and Impervious (AM 449) at the Rose Festival Fleet Week    		 Tommy Trampp
    Fortify/Engage 26k c. Summer 1960
    Fortify and Engage anchored at Hong Kong
    Photo taken from Inflict (MSO 456) by Floyd Farrar    		 Floyd Farrar
    Engage 337k 2 July 1983
    Moored at Pier 3 during a port visit to the Washington Navy Yard as part of Mine Group TWO of the Naval Reserve Force
    U.S. Navy photo DN-ST-83-11248.    		 Bill Gonyo
    Engage 398k 2 July 1983
    A view of the amidships section showing a paravane in its storage rack
    U.S. Navy photo DN-ST-83-11254
    Commanding Officers
    01LT Sidney Joseph Martin, USN29 June 1954 - July 1955
    02LT Donald Lees Hadaway, USNJuly 1955 - July 1957
    03LT William George Madill, Jr., USNJuly 1957 - 9 October 1959
    04LCDR Lester Eugene Zook, USN9 October 1959 - September 1961
    05LCDR William H. Adkin, USNSeptember 1961 - July 1963
    06LCDR John Elwin Arnold, USNJuly 1963 - July 1965
    07LCDR John V. Hall, USNJuly 1965 - January 1967
    08LCDR William Mitchell Crowe, Jr., USNJanuary 1967 - 1 November 1968
    09LT Robert Charles Bartlett, USN - Officer-in-charge of conversion1 November 1968 - March 1969
    10LTJG W. J. McCarthy, USN - Officer-in-charge of conversionMarch 1969 - July 1969
    11LT Alan Whitney Humphrey, USNJuly 1969 - June 1970
    12LCDR Richard D. Forster, USNJune 1970 - 21 April 1972
    13LCDR John Bullard Mitchell, Jr., USN21 April 1972 - 7 December 1973
    14LCDR Richard J. Norman, USN7 December 1973 - October 1975
    16LCDR Henry N. Didier, USNOctober 1975 - April 1978
    17LCDR David A. Jones, USNApril 1978 - 21 July 1980
    18CDR Robert D. Zvacek, USN21 July 1980 - 17 July 1982
    19LCDR Donald Andrew Frahler, USN17 July 1982 - 13 August 1984
    20LCDR Robert D. Finney, USN13 August 1984 - 1985
    21LCDR Roger Keith Hope, USN1985 - 26 April 1987
    22LCDR John G. Hegeman, USN26 April 1987 - 22 April 1988
    23LCDR James W. Stevenson, USN22 April 1988 - July 1988
    24LCDR Peter Wyncoop, Jr., USNJuly 1988 - 15 August 1988
    25LCDR Jerome E. Grause, USN15 August 1988 - 4 October 1988
    26LCDR George T. Foster, USN4 October 1988 - December 1990
    27LCDR Victor A. Edelmann, Jr., USNDecember 1990 - April 1991
    28CDR Robert A. Higgins, USNApril 1991 - April 1991
    29LCDR Donald M. Jackson, USNApril 1991 - October 1991
    30LCDR Victor A. Edelmann, Jr., USNOctober 1991 - 30 December 1991
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves
    View the Engage (MSO-433)
    DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Website
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    102 Minesweepers (MSO) Oceangoing Minesweepers
    MSO-433
    Naval Minewarfare Association
    Association of Minemen
    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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