USS ''Vigor'' (AM-473/MSO-473) was an ''Agile''-class

minesweeper A minesweeper is a small warship designed to remove or detonate naval mines. Using various mechanisms intended to counter the threat posed by naval mines, minesweepers keep waterways clear for safe shipping. History The earliest known usage of ...

acquired by the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

for the dangerous task of removing mines from minefields laid in the water to prevent ships from passing. ''Vigor'' was laid down on 16 June 1952 at

Manitowoc, Wisconsin Manitowoc () is a city in and the county seat of Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, United States. The city is located on Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Manitowoc River. According to the 2020 census, Manitowoc had a population of 34,626, with ove ...

, by the Burger Boat Co.; launched on 23 June 1953, sponsored by Mrs. Charles C. Kerwin; and commissioned at the Boston Naval Shipyard on 8 November 1954.

East Coast service

After brief duty at Boston, Massachusetts, the minesweeper moved to Key West, Florida, for

shakedown Shakedown may refer to: * Shakedown (continuum mechanics), a type of plastic deformation * Shakedown (testing) or a shakedown cruise, a period of testing undergone by a ship, airplane or other craft before being declared operational * Extortion, ...

training early in 1955. During the cruise, she was redesignated ''MSO-473'' on 7 February. Minesweeper refresher training at Charleston, South Carolina, followed, and ''Vigor'' then began a tour of duty with the Naval Ordnance Laboratory at

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. Later that year, ''Vigor'' became a training ship, first for the Underwater Object Locator School at Key West and then for the Naval Mine Warfare School at

Yorktown, Virginia Yorktown is a census-designated place (CDP) in York County, Virginia. It is the county seat of York County, one of the eight original shires formed in colonial Virginia in 1682. Yorktown's population was 195 as of the 2010 census, while York Co ...

. Early in 1956, she again headed south to participate in the annual Caribbean exercise,

Operation Springboard Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Ma ...

. During her cruise to the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...

, ''Vigor'' made port calls at

San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan (, , ; Spanish for "Saint John") is the capital city and most populous municipality in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2020 census, it is the 57th-largest city under the juri ...

; and Fredricksted, St. Croix, in the

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1956 Med cruise

Following her return to Charleston and operations out of that port, she got underway on 1 May for her first deployment to the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ...

. During that cruise, she visited Harwich, England; Ostend, Belgium; and

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, as well as touching at the usual

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ports of call along the Mediterranean coast. She concluded that cruise at Charleston on 6 October and resumed operations from that base.

Testing and evaluation

''Vigor'' continued that duty until the latter part of 1957, when she was reassigned to the Naval Mine Defense Laboratory at

Panama City, Florida Panama City is a city in and the county seat of Bay County, Florida, United States. Located along U.S. Highway 98 (US 98), it is the largest city between Tallahassee and Pensacola. It is the more populated city of the Panama City–Lynn ...

. From that new home port, the minesweeper operated with

Mine Division MinDiv was a standard U.S. Navy abbreviation or acronym for "Minesweeper Division." The Commander of a minesweeper division is known, in official Navy communications, as COMMINDIV (followed by a number), such as COMMINDIV EIGHT. References See ...

85 participating in various experimental projects conducted by the laboratory. For the next 14 years, she remained based at Panama City conducting operations for both the Mine Warfare Laboratory and with the Operational Test and Evaluation Force. During her assignment there, she also deployed to the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...

five more times, patrolled the windward passage between Cuba and Haiti during the Cuban Missile Crisis, operating with the 6th Fleet for six months at a time. Each time she returned to Panama City she resumed normal duty which was broken periodically by overhauls at various locations.

Decommissioning

On New Year's Day 1971, the ship's base was changed back to Charleston. She left Panama City on the 18th and arrived in Charleston on the 27th. After 15 months of duty with the Mine Force, ''Vigor'' was decommissioned at Charleston on 4 April 1972. Simultaneously, her name was struck from the

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, and she was transferred to the government of Spain. As of the beginning of 1980, she remained an active unit of the

Spanish Navy The Spanish Navy or officially, the Armada, is the maritime branch of the Spanish Armed Forces and one of the oldest active naval forces in the world. The Spanish Navy was responsible for a number of major historic achievements in navigation, ...

, serving under the name ''Guadiana'' (M44).

References

External links

NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive - Vigor (AM / MSO 473)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vigor (AM-473) Agile-class minesweepers Ships built in Manitowoc, Wisconsin 1953 ships Cold War minesweepers of the United States Aggressive-class minesweepers of the Spanish Navy