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


Courtesy of Mike Smolinski

Endurance (MSO-435)
ex-AM-435



Call sign:
November - Quebec - November - November

Aggressive Class Minesweeper:

  • Laid down 28 January 1952 by the J. M. Martinac Shipbuilding Corp., Tacoma, Washington
  • Launched 8 August 1952
  • Sponsored by Miss Gerry A. Borovich
  • Commissioned USS Endurance (AM-435), 19 May 1954
  • Reclassified as an Ocean Minesweeper, MSO-435, 7 February 1955
  • Decommissioned and struck from the Naval Register 1 July 1972
  • Sold for scrapping 27 January 1974 to Al Kidman of Wilmington, CA., for $32,501.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 630 t.(lt), 755 t.(fl)
  • Length 172'
  • Beam 35'
  • Draft 10'
  • Speed 14 kts.
  • Complement 80
  • Armament: As built, one single 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
    Endurance (AM 435)
    Endurance 65k 8 August 1952
    Preparing for launching    		 J. M. Martinac Shipbuilding Corp.
    Endurance 48k 8 August 1952
    Launching
    Endurance was the largest wooden-hulled vessel to be built in Tacoma since WWI
    USS Endurance (AM 435)
    Endurance 54k 19 May 1954
    Commissioning
    This was the first formal commissioning of a Navy vessel in Tacoma at the Tacoma Naval Station since World War II    		 J. M. Martinac Shipbuilding Corp.
    USS Endurance (MSO 435)
    Endurance 101k Richard Miller, BMCS, USNR, Ret.
    Endurance 55k Painting by Richard DeRosset titled "Sea Battle off the Cua Co Chien River Mouth," used in the book "Wooden Ships and Iron Men: The U.S. Navy's Ocean Minesweepers, 1953-1994" by David Bruhn, depicting the ocean minesweeper Endurance engaging a North Vietnamese gunrunner in a historic wooden ship versus steel ship confrontation David Braun
    Wooden Ships
    Endurance 96k c. mid-1960s
    U.S. Navy photo    		 Robert M. Cieri
    Endurance 312k c. June 1969
    Subic Bay Naval Station
    Damage caused by HMAS Rorqual (SO 2) ramming Endurance while docking at River Point pier in Subic Bay, Philippines    		 Original photo: 102 Minesweepers Web Site
    Dick Lewis
    Replacement photo: Bill Gonyo
    Endurance 70k c. 1970
    Western Pacific    		 Richard Miller, BMCS, USNR, Ret.
    Commanding Officers
    01LT L. E. Martin, USN - USNA Class of 194619 May 1954 - 2 December 1955
    02LT Richard C. Maurer, Jr., USN - USNA Class of 1948-a2 December 1955 - 30 October 1959
    03LCDR E. G. Fleeger, USN30 October 1959 - 8 December 1960
    04LCDR J. F. Matjceck, USN8 December 1960 - 9 April 1962
    05LCDR Thomas H. Wood, USN9 April 1962 - 1 November 1963
    06LT Marvin G. Smith, Jr., USN1 November 1963 - 30 December 1964
    07LCDR Francis B. Shemanski, USN1 January 1965 - 12 July 1967
    08LCDR Harold John Sutphen, USN14 July 1967 - 28 June 1969
    09LCDR Charles Robe Shlegelmilch, USN28 June 1969 - 20 December 1970
    10LCDR Donald Andrew Stoufer, USN20 December 1970 - 15 October 1971
    11LCDR Isidore "Bud" Larguier, Jr., USN - Awarded the Defense Superior Service Medal, two Legions of Merit, two Defense Meritorious Service Medals, two Meritorious Service Medals and the Joint Service Commendation Medal
    Retired as Captain    		15 October 1971 - 1 January 1972
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves and Joseph M. Radigan (of blessed memory)
    View the Endurance (MSO-435)
    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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