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

Venture (MSO 496)
ex-AM-496



Call sign:
November - Foxtrot - Oscar - Kilo
Aggressive Class Minesweeper:

  • Laid down 11 January 1955 as AM-496 at Boward Marine, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
  • Reclassified as an Ocean Minesweeper, MSO-496, 7 February 1955
  • Launched 27 November 1956
  • Commissioned USS Venture (MSO-496), 3 February 1958
  • Decommissioned 2 August 1971 at Charleston, SC and laid up in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet, Norfolk Group
  • Struck from the Naval Register in September 1977
  • Sold for scrap 1 May 1978 by the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service to C. B. Herter of Hopewell, VA for $27,019.

    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, 40mm 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
    Venture 29k U.S. Navy photos 102 Minesweeper Website
    Dick Lewis
    Venture 36k
    Venture 9k
    Venture 377k 7 March 1966
    Mine Defense Laboratory photo    		 Dick Dawson
    Venture 210k c. August 1966/October 1968
    Venture 215k
    Venture 202k
    Venture 252k
    Venture 159k
    Venture 235k
    Venture 290k
    Venture 210k
    Venture 239k
    Venture 313k
    Venture 237k
    Venture 296k
    Venture 188k
    Venture 132k
    Venture 225k
    Venture 261k
    Venture 193k
    Venture 220k
    Venture 181k
    Vital & Venture 306k 19 March 1969
    La Spezia, Italy
    Inboard of Vital (MSO 474)    		 Carlo Martinelli
    Commanding Officers
    01LCDR James Herbert Agles, USN3 February 1958 - 1 February 1960
    02LCDR Richard Hawes Gaunt, USN1 February 1960 - 16 August 1962
    03LCDR Donald Bullock Polatty, USN - USNA Class of 195216 August 1962 - 10 July 1964
    04LCDR Donald Lee Howard, USN10 July 1964 - 3 February 1967
    05LCDR Windolan Willie Kesterson, USN3 February 1967 - 9 January 1969
    06LCDR John Aubrey Chrisman, Jr., USN - USNA Class of 19589 January 1969 - 30 July 1970
    07LCDR Douglas Meriwether Conwell, USN30 July 1970 - 2 August 1971
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves
    View the Venture (MSO-496)
    DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Website
    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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