Overview
The MSI-58-class archive group contains the 20 Italian MSI hulls numbered MSI-55 through MSI-74.
Developed for Italian Navy, MSI-58 class belongs to the Mine warfare vessels family and is associated with Cold War. Its documented designations include Inshore minesweeper, while its intended roles include Inshore minesweeping and Coastal mine warfare.
Development and construction
NavSource controls the hull-number/name sequence. ShipbuildingHistory is retained as a program source but its Italian MSI numbering is shifted relative to the individual NavSource records, so it is not used to overwrite the NavSource mapping.
The documented program for MSI-58 class lists 20 planned, 20 ordered, 20 laid down, 20 completed, and 0 cancelled. These figures provide the clearest available measure of the class's planned and completed scale.
Design characteristics and intended role
The surviving classification data associates MSI-58 class with Diesel propulsion and Mine-warfare construction. Read together with the recorded roles of Inshore minesweeping and Coastal mine warfare, these attributes show the operational problem the design was intended to address without implying specifications that the sources do not establish.
The class record identifies Italian Navy as the principal design or service authority. Where individual ships changed navy, name, or pennant, those later identities are retained on the ship pages rather than treated as separate vessels.
Service history and class roster
The group served the Italian Navy under M 5447 through M 5466, with several later auxiliary pennants and the Scampo-to-Murena rename preserved as temporal identities on the same ships.
The class roster currently links 20 ships. Named members include Aragosta, Arsella, Astice, Attina, Calamaro, Conchiglia, Dromia, and Gambero. The linked ships are associated with Italian Navy.
Historical significance
The Italian group is a useful example of why source conflicts must be preserved explicitly rather than silently reconciled by renumbering ships.
MSI-58 class is most useful when read as both a design and a group of individual careers. The class page establishes the shared technical and operational context; the linked ship pages preserve differences in construction, service identity, deployment, transfer, preservation, and fate where those details are documented.
Ships in this class
Showing 20 recorded class members.
- Aragosta
- Arsella
- Astice
- Attina
- Calamaro
- Conchiglia
- Dromia
- Gambero
- Granchio
- Mitilo
- Murena
- Ostrica
- Paguro
- Pinna
- Polpo
- Porpora
- Riccio
- Seppia
- Tellina
- Totano
Sources and further reading
- Motor Mine Sweeper Photo Archive — AMS / MSC Index ↗NavSource Naval History · accessed 2026-09-19
- Minesweepers MSO MSC MSI MHC MCM Post-War — ShipbuildingHistory ↗ShipbuildingHistory.com · accessed 2026-09-19
- MSI-58 / Aragosta — NavSource Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive ↗NavSource Naval History · accessed 2026-09-20