Venture III (MSO-496)
1958-1977
The first Venture retained the name she carried at the time of her acquisition; the name source for the second and third ship of the lineage was a general word classification.
III
(MSO-496: displacement 775; length 172'0"; beam 35'0"; draft 10'0"; speed 14 knots; complement 70; armament 1 40 millimeter, 2 .50-caliber machine guns; class Aggressive)
The third Venture (AM-496) was laid down on 11 January 1955 at Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., by Broward Marine Inc.; reclassified as an ocean minesweeper, MSO-496 on 7 February 1955; launched on 27 November 1956; sponsored by Mrs. LeRoy [Mary] Collins, wife of Governor LeRoy Collins of Florida; and commissioned on 3 February 1958, Lt. Cmdr. James H. Agles in command.
Following shakedown training at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, during March and April 1958, Venture conducted local minesweeping operations out of Charleston, S.C., until late June at which time she entered the Charleston Naval Shipyard for post-shakedown availability. That repair period lasted until 1 December when she began preparations to deploy to the Mediterranean Sea. Although her home port was changed from Charleston, S.C., to Panama City, Fla., on New Year's Day 1959, the minesweeper embarked upon her first Mediterranean cruise from the former port on 9 January as the flagship of Mine Division (MinDiv) 81. After a routine tour of duty with the Sixth Fleet, Venture returned to Charleston on 30 May for a tender availability at the naval shipyard and normal operations out of Charleston until late summer.
On 3 August 1959, the minesweeper departed Charleston, bound finally for Panama City, Fla., her new home port. For the next dozen years, she served the Navy's Mine Defense Laboratory located there. For the remainder of her career, the minesweeper and her division mates helped that institution to develop mine warfare countermeasures. When not operating under the auspices of the laboratory, she performed mine warfare training exercises under the direction of the Commander, Mine Squadron 8. In addition, she periodically provided services in support of the research and developmental work carried on by the Operational Test and Evaluation Force, frequently in conjunction with the Naval Mine Defense Laboratory mentioned above, and by the Naval Ships Research and Development Center (popularly dubbed the David Taylor Model Basin) located at Carderock, Md.
During that time period, Venture departed the immediate area of the eastern Gulf of Mexico infrequently. On occasion, she made visits to Norfolk, Va., Charleston, S.C., and Mobile, Ala., but those calls either proved very brief or were made strictly for the purpose of repairs and availabilities. Early in 1969, however, she did clear the Panama City area for a tour of duty overseas. Between 10 January and 16 June 1969, she made her second deployment to the Sixth Fleet, almost a decade to the day after she had begun her first Mediterranean mission.
Back in Panama City by mid-June 1969, the minesweeper resumed duty assisting in the development of mine countermeasures. That task carried the warship through the last two years of her naval career. Just before she began inactivation preparations, she became flagship of MinDiv 21 when the Atlantic Fleet Mine Force was reorganized; and MinDiv 81 was transformed into MinDiv 21. Venture began preparations for her inactivation on 3 May 1971 at Charleston. She was decommissioned there on 2 August 1971 and, on 10 November, was berthed with the Norfolk Group, Atlantic Reserve Fleet.
Venture was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 September 1977 and was disposed-of, by Navy Sale, on 1 February 1978, being acquired for scrap by C. B. Herter of Hopewell, Virginia.
Updated, Robert J. Cressman
7 April 2022
