USS Sturdy ( MSO - 494 ) USS " Sturdy " ( AM - 494 / MSO - 494 ) was an " Aggressive " - class minesweeper acquired by the U . S . Navy for the task of removing mines that had been placed in the water to prevent the safe passage of ships . The third ship to be named " Sturdy " by the Navy , " MSO - 494 " was laid down on 15 October 1954 by Broward Marine Inc . , Fort Lauderdale , Florida ; launched on 28 January 1956 ; sponsored by Mrs . Francis P . Whitehair ; and commissioned on 23 October 1957 , Lt . Comdr . Albert T . Sprague , III , in command . East Coast operations . Sturdy joined the Mine Force , Atlantic Fleet , at Charleston , South Carolina , on 13 November 1957 and completed fitting out and sea trials . She held her shakedown cruise in January and February 1958 off Guantanamo Bay , Cuba . Upon returning to Charleston , she operated from there until January 1959 when she was deployed to the Mediterranean as a unit of the U . S . 6th Fleet . She participated in various exercises with fleet units of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization countries and visited ports in Spain , France , Italy , Corsica , Malta , and Gibraltar , before returning to her homeport on 30 May 1959 . Second tour with the U . S . Sixth Fleet . " Sturdy " conducted training exercises and test operations along the coast until early September when she deployed to the Caribbean . She returned to Charleston on 7 December 1960 and operated from there to the Caribbean for the next 10 months . The minesweeper stood out of Charleston on 11 September 1961 for her second tour with the U . S . 6th Fleet which ended on 24 March 1962 . Supporting the U . S . space program . In May 1962 she participated in an exercise off North Carolina and then moved south off Cape Canaveral , Florida , to join the recovery forces for Lt . Comdr . Scott Carpenter ' s space shot on the 24th . June 1962 , Sturdy proceeded to Panama City , Fla where she was outfitted with the US Navy ' s first towed Side Scan Sonar . From there she proceeded up the East Coast to Boston , testing the equipment over all types of bottom conditions to test and evaluate the new sonar . After returning to Charleston for an INSURV Inspection , she proceeded to Savannah Machine & Foundry Co . , for a repair - yard period from 20 August to 23 October 1962 . " Sturdy " returned to the Side - scan testing operation and to providing services to the Mine - Warfare School in Charleston , SC until Mar 19 , 1963 , when she was deployed with her side - scan sonar to the waters South West of Bermuda where fishermen had snagged 22 German WW2 submarine laid mines . After a week of no - luck , Sturdy ' s XO visited the fisherman and discovered his compass faulty . After calibrating the compass for them , Sturdy returned to the new site and located the mines within 2 days , destroying all of them . Sturdy was deployed to the Caribbean with her mine division 44 from 29 May through 18 October 1963 . This cruise was essentially the Navy ' s clean - up effort after the Cuban Missile Crisis . The 4 ships alternated providing surveillance in the Windward Passage between Haiti and Cuba . Sturdy was credited with identifying one Russian Komar Class Torpedo ship proceeding at high speed from Haiti to Cuba . Upon return to Charleston and a much needed Tender Availability , Sturdy joined USS Swerve on a surveillance cruise to justify President Kennedy ' s Military Assistance Program for Central America . During this cruise we experienced being at DEFCONONE FOR 24 hours when President Kennedy was assassinated , the cruise ended on 8 December 1963 . " Sturdy " was awarded the Battle Efficiency “ E ” for the fiscal year 1963 . " Sturdy " conducted tests , operations , and exercises along the eastern seaboard of the United States and in the Caribbean for the next seven years . On 21 March 1965 , the " Sturdy " left Charleston , SC for Cape Kennedy to participate in the Gemini III manned space launch . The " Sturdy " was just off the coast that day , 25 March 1965 , near the launch pad in case there was an abort within the first few seconds . She had a team of navy divers ( frogmen ) on board along with their equipment . It was an incredible experience to see how quickly the rocket lifted off and was out of sight within only a few seconds . At that time , the " Sturdy " set its course back to Charleston . The " Sturdy " was awarded the Battle Efficiency " E " after an extremely high score on the mine field off the Charleston coast . The mine field contained various types of mines , bottom , suspended , acoustic , pressure , etc . The ship maneuvered back and forth across the field detecting as many mines as possible by its high resolution sonar system . Many passes resulted in detecting the same mines multiple times at multiple locations on the field . This led to the high score . The sonarmen and radarmen plotted across the field each detection . Decommissioning . On 28 September 1970 , the crew of " Sturdy " was notified that she was to be decommissioned . The inactivation process was begun on 1 October 1970 and on 1 July 1972 the ship was decommissioned at Charleston . " Sturdy " was towed to Norfolk , Virginia , by and placed in the Inactive Ship Facility there . " Sturdy " was decommissioned on 1 July 1972 and struck from the Navy list on 1 September 1977 . She was sold for scrapping for the sum of $ 27 , 000 in 1987 .