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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

MSO-483
ex-AM-483


AM-483 was built for the Netherlands.



Mercuur call sign:
Papa - Alpha - Romeo - Echo
AM-480 Class Fleet Minesweeper: Laid down 19 February 1952 as AM-483 by Peterson Builders Inc., Sturgeon Bay, WI; Launched, 17 January 1953; Completed, 18 June 1954; Transferred to the Netherlands and commissioned Onverschrokken (M 886), 22 July 1954; Reclassified by U. S. Navy as an Ocean Minesweeper, MSO-483, 7 February 1955; Converted to a Torpedo Retriever Craft and reclassified M-865 in 1971; Renamed Mercuur and reclassified A-856, 11 May 1973; Decommissioned 12 February 1987; Preserved as a museum ship as part of Amsterdam's nautical museum (Nautisch Kwartier); Relocated 24 April 1993 to Schveningen, Holland. Much of the ship is closed to the general public.

Specifications: Displacement 750 t.; Length 171'; Beam 35'; Draft 10' 4"; Speed 15 kts; Complement 39; Armament, one 40-mm and two .50 cal. machine guns; Propulsion two 1,600shp General Motors diesel enginess, two shafts.

Click on thumbnail
for full size image		 Size Image Description Source
AM-484 55k Minesweeper hulls AM-483, 484, 485 for the Netherlands in the background. In the foreground is the last American-made side-wheeler still afloat in the U.S. and used as a floating warehouse. Restored and now serves as a museum in Sandusky, Ohio.
Photo courtesy Peterson Builders.		 Mercuur Museum Website
MSO-483 128k Still wearing her U.S. Navy hull number and flying The Netherlands flag. Pieter Bakels
MSO-483 60k . Mercuur Museum Website
MSO-483 71k . MSO Group - Holland
MSO-483 97k . MSO Group - Holland
MSO-483 262k . Pieter Bakels
There is no DANFS history available for MSO-483.
View the Miscellaneous photos of Mercuur
Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
Naval Minewarfare Association
Association of Minemen
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This page created and maintained by Joseph M. Radigan
© 2005 Joseph M. Radigan © 1996 - 2005 NavSource Naval History. All Rights Reserved.