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


Courtesy of Mike Smolinski

Stalwart (MSO 493)
ex-AM-493



Call sign:
November - Uniform - Papa - Lima
Aggressive Class Minesweeper

  • Laid down 22 June 1954 as AM-493 by Boward Marine, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
  • Reclassified as an Ocean Minesweeper MSO-493, 7 February 1955
  • Launched 3 December 1955
  • Commissioned USS Stalwart (MSO-493), 23 April 1957
  • Lost due to fire 25 June 1966 at San Juan, Puerto Rico
  • Decommissioned 24 August 1966
  • Struck from the Naval Register 1 March 1967
  • Sunk as an artificial reef off the Florida coast in 1971.

    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 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
    Stalwart 69k Douglas Rollings and
    Al Hines
    USS Adroit MSO-509 website
    Stalwart 19k - Al Hines
    USS Adroit MSO-509 website
    Stalwart 119k William Robinson, Engineer Officer 1963 - 1965 with unidentified MSO in the background William Robinson
    Stalwart 92k Newspaper clippings contributed by Ron Carlson Ron Reeves
    Stalwart 105k
    Stalwart 26k
    Stalwart 107k
    Stalwart 75k
    Stalwart 70k c. July 1966
    San Juan, Puerto Rico
    Photo by Doug Oldaker, IC3
    Commanding Officers
    01LCDR Edward Francis McCartan, USN - USNA Class of 194523 April 1957 - 2 October 1957
    02LT Robert Allen Wheeler, USNR2 October 1957 - 22 November 1957
    03LT Aimo Matthew Saari, USN22 November 1957 - 30 March 1959
    04LCDR Alexander Dingwall Thomson, USN - USNA Class of 194930 March 1959 - July 1960
    05LCDR Richard Lewis Rodier, USNJuly 1960 - 21 July 1962
    06LCDR Edward Ara Broadwell, USN1962 - April 1965
    07LCDR Eugene Albert Jumper, USNApril 1965 - 19 June 1966
    08LT Henry George "Blaze" Vargo, USN - USNA Class of 195819 June 1966 - 24 August 1966
    09LTJG Gary Dean Koeneman, USN24 August 1966 - 7 July 1967 (Officer-in-Charge)
    10LTJG Paul Rusley Meeker, USN7 July 1967 - 28 September 1967 (Officer-in-Charge)
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves
    View the Stalwart (MSO-493)
    DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Website
    Additional Resources and Websites 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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