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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive


Courtesy of Mike Smolinski

Skill (MSO 471)
ex-AM-471



Call sign:
November - Oscar - Xray - Uniform
Aggressive Class Minesweeper:

  • Laid down 17 August 1953 as AM-471 at Luders Marine Construction Co., Stamford, Conn.
  • Reclassified as an Ocean Minesweeper, MSO-471, 7 February 1955
  • Commissioned USS Skill (MSO-471), 7 November 1955
  • Decommissioned 15 December 1970 and laid up at the Beaumont, TX Group of the Atlantic Reserve Fleet
  • Struck from the Navy Register 1 September 1977
  • Sold for scrap by Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service 1 April 1979.

    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, two .50 cal machine guns. 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
    USS Skill (MSO 471)
    Skill 62k Photo courtesy of Dave Venable Dick Lewis, 102 Minesweepers Website
    Skill 84k . Richard Miller, BMCS, USNR, Ret.
    Nimble 382k These minesweepers look smart and sturdy as they execute coordinated movements in training. Shown are Skill, USS Nimble (MSO 459), USS Pinnacle (MSO 462) and
    Sagacity (MSO 469)
    U.S. Navy photo from the April 1960 edition of All Hands magazine    		 Joe Radigan
    Skill 361k c. 1960
    Approaching Terrebonne Parish (LST 1156)    		 Nick Gardner, QM3 1959/1961 LST-1156
    Skill 506k c. 1960
    Highlining and refueling from Terrebonne Parish (LST 1156)
    Skill 521k
    Sagacity 380k 17 March 1968
    Genoa, Italy
    Moored alongside Sagacity (MSO 469)    		 Carlo Martinelli
    Skill
    Skill 23k c. 1983
    Kearny, NJ
    Photo courtesy of Dave Vennard    		 Tommy Trampp
    Commanding Officers
    01LCDR Robert Albert Latka, USN7 November 1955 - 1957
    02LT Robert Erwin Pyle, USN1957 - 1958
    03LT Kenneth B. Fader, USN1958 - 1960
    04LT George Latham, USN1960 - 1962
    05LT Leighton Dale Smith, USN1962 - 1964
    06LCDR Francis Leo Carelli, USN1964 - September 1966
    07LCDR Harry Stillman Quast, USN - Retired as RADMSeptember 1966 - 1968
    08LCDR Gene Paul Kesler, USN - USNA Class of 19601968 - 15 December 1970
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves
    View the Skill (MSO-471)
    DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Website
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    102 Minesweepers (MSO) Oceangoing Minesweepers
    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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    This page created by Gary P. Priolo and maintained by Joe Radigan
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