Submarine Chasers of the U.S. Navy
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- Опубліковано 24 лип 2024
- Among the strategies for dealing with the U-boat threat to U.S. shipping was a series of small vessels, designed to be built cheaply and quickly, and optimized to find and hunt submarines. The sub chasers were small, but ended up playing out-sized roles along the coasts of the United States and around the world. The History Guy tells the forgotten story of the submarine chasers of the U.S. Navy.
This is original content based on research by The History Guy. Images in the Public Domain are carefully selected and provide illustration. As very few images of the actual event are available in the Public Domain, images of similar objects and events are used for illustration.
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All events are portrayed in historical context and for educational purposes. No images or content are primarily intended to shock and disgust. Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Non censuram.
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Script by THG
#wwii #thehistoryguy #ushistory
In the episode I say that USS PC-566's credited kill of the U-166 is the only enemy submarine kill credited to the subchasers. Since then, viewers have pointed out some other examples including USS PC-565's destruction of the U-521 and USS PC-624's destruction of U-375. There may be more examples as well. I apologize for the error, and hope to cover some of those actions in future episodes.
Thank you for honoring the black Patriots who led the way for equality with their lives offered in combat with distinction and valor.
Hardly anyone seems to remember the PCE class built during WW2. Also very numerous.
My father was on a sub-chaser in the Atlantic. He never spoke to me about his experiences until close to his death. I think he only spoke then because my son was fighting in Iraq, and he felt the memories overwhelming.
Have you ever done a video on Red Ball Express? That would be a great topic.
While there may be misses, I would not call them errors. There is a lot of history that is unclear. That you acknowledge it and move forward means they are not mistakes. Rather, history is unclear. Thank you, THG, for keeping history in the present.
In WWII my father was the fire control officer on a tin can. He said that every time they would roll a depth charge off the stern it would lift the stern out of the water when it went off. He jokingly would say that they should of gotten sub pay in the North Atlantic.
When I enlisted in the Navy he told me “get into aviation.” The best piece of advice he ever gave me. I spent my entire career in P-3s hunting Russian subs. Fly Navy 🇺🇸
From the book Send Another Signal by Jack Bromme. A Canadian Corvette in an Atlantic Convoy was seen to be flying the Church Pennant, A course flag and an Itergoatory flag. When signalled by the Convoy Commodore 'What signal are you flying? The reply was Oh God! Where am I?
Thank you for your service in flying Navy. Semper Fi.
NAVRET I also spent much of my Navy time (1989-2012) in P-3s (VP-11, TSC Sigonella, VP-16). In which squadrons did you serve?
JimmyDickens1 - (1967 - 1988); VP-10, -30, -24, ASWOC Kef.
My father was trained to hunt subs from a PBY Catalina during the Korea war for the US Navy.
My son is just finishing up Officer candidate School in Rhode Island and will then move to South Carolina for Nuclear Propulsion School. Afterwards he will go to sub school and then ultimately onto his first assignment aboard a submarine.
Apparently the Navy and submarines are what my families does. LOL!
It's amazing how L. Ron Hubbard did damage everywhere he went. Thanks for this....excellent content as usual.
Damage everywhere, except to the enemy.
His former Navy career foreshadowed his path of destruction. I suppose you can say that about all the failed leaders in our history.
Give L Ron a break. It was only 68 hours and he was just trying to get his e-meter to work with a potato.
I wish there was A Bwahahah button on utube.
If you want to sum up L. Ron Hubbard, in a word, he was a bullshit artist!!
11:34 Those Mk II talker helmet's always make me think of Rick Moranis in Spaceballs
"I am your father's, brother's, nephews, cousin's former roommate."
"We've been jammed!"
Yes, but it is just the sort of helmet you want to be wearing when you call the bridge and recommended “All ahead with ludicrous speed”.
If Tom Hanks was wearing that helmet, all his orders would have been instantly obeyed without question.
I wore that helmet on the bridge of my 2 DDs during General Quarters & off of Vietnam. I was a yeoman, so they always made us phone talkers. Was exciting to have a front row seat at all evolutions. Going in & out of port was fun too. Anchors aweigh... Haze gray, underway...
My Swartz is bigger than your Swartz
Where were you when I needed you in high school? I loved history but hated my teacher. I'd have sat and listened to you all day if it meant passing history. Well now, 30 years later, thanks to you, I can regain my love for history and anticipate your next class. Thank you.
My 7th and 12th grade history teachers gave me an interest that I still have 50 years later. I remember their names and faces but not one of my other social studies/US history teachers in all the other grades. Good teachers are rare and valuable, too bad we don't have more of them.
Thank you, Mrs. Hirschorn and Mr. Sandor.
I like history but not history in school. Then I read a historian's description of most school history texts," they are not books of history but glossaries of history."
There is a book titled "the Shetland Bus" rather interesting but mostly unknown in part because it was a low level "non professional" effort as well as somewhat secret. The 110 foot SCs were only used in the later times of the war.
@@TheOtherBill Trying to educate our own children due to the pandemics made me realize the value of teachers. Obviously, the good one are well remembered and respected. However, even the bad ones are still worth noted as I don't think I can even match their level of competence.
You would have not paid attention, just like you did the first time. You like listening to stories and not having a test at the end.
I know right!! lol 😂
Wonderful to hear of the small boat builders and their contributions to the war effort.
Look up Higgin's story. From assisting Rum Runners to building Revenue Cutters to cornering the market in stocks of wood for his design, then selling the design to the US Goverment. Guy had some front.
@@51WCDodge Just wanted to answer the same . . .
I was also going to say the Higgins story is one that also needs to be remembered.
In the USA and in the UK.... a great side story!
@@trooperdgb9722 I suppose our equivalent would be The British Power Boat Company and Camper & Nicolson, they desingned a number of small craft
As a Canadian, I proudly served on a refurbished wooden USN sub chaser in the '90s.
The vessel took party goers on booze cruises around Vancouver harbour and up the BC coast. Fine of line, she was an unusually narrow "party boat". Talking to the captain? was when I first learned about sub chasers. We went to the engine room for a look around and, from the bridge (wheelhouse?) I steered (drove? sailed?) the boat and talked with the captain/admiral. Although I missed much of my friend's birthday, being a history geek, it was one of the best parties I have ever attended.
The History Guy, teaching and bringing back memories.
"Lt." L. Rob Hubbard's connection to this was hilariously informative!
1977 stayed with family for a week in Asheville, NC. One of their neighbor's was an older hippie couple whose house was like a pig sty inside. Their kitchen looked like a flea market with dirty pots and pans piled up 4 high and not an inch of clear counter space. Found out the man was a friend of Hubbard and helped develop Scientology.
@@bassomatic1871 This kind of story is priceless. Perhaps they strongly felt the aliens preferred scuzzy kitchens!
He had a vision that there was a U-Boat there!
Ron L Hubbard ..... That made me chuckle. Monday evening entertainment at its best, thank you for this.
That was a n interesting tidbit, wasn't it!
@@ronfullerton3162 Something to add to the conversation when the buggers turn up on the doorstep
Having been a sailor on an ASW frigate (previously classed as Destroyer Escort), I enjoyed this history of the smaller sub hunters. They were always very underappreciated
While mentioned in passing, the story of PC-823, renamed by Korea PC-701 merits a 15-minute show just on that ship, the ship that saved South Korea. Newly liberated South Korea in 1945 had no ships worth speaking of. A young naval officer, Son Won-II was determined to get one. He talked his officers and men into contributing from their meager salary, sold scrap metal, their wives taking in laundry and sewing to raise enough money to persuade the South Korean government to purchase a broke down submarine chaser. They fixed it up, and with left over funds purchased a 3-inch gun and 100 shells, too few for any test firing.
With the invasion of South Korea in 1950, the capital ship of the South Korea navy, the 280-ton PC-701 set sail to patrol the coast. Coming down from the north was a 1000-ton freighter with 600 troops. If they seize the lightly defended Pusan, no stand there by U. N. troops would be possible. The Korean war would be lost in the first few weeks. But as luck would have it, PC-701 found the freighter, which did not respond signals but opened up with heavy machine guns, killing personal on the bridge of PC-701. It all came down to the untested 3-inch gun and the 100 shells. Manning the exposed gun, they fired the shots that turned the battle, chased down the freighter and sank it.
I can think of no other example of such a small ship having a bigger impact on history than PC-701. Amazingly, the ship was not maintained like an HMS Victory but was sold for scrap. But its mast is kept at the South Korean Naval Academy.
JOE ELLIOT hello what an amazing post Extremely interesting cheers from Australia
Well presented! Thank you.
WOW!!! History that deserves to be remembered...
Very interesting Joe. Thanks for your contribution.
Thanks for the response to my post. Some more information can be found at the following website.
nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/how-lone-60000-patrol-boat-and-its-single-deck-gun-changed-course-korean-war-78871
Curiously, the waters around Tsushima Island have been at the center of naval history three times. In the thirteenth century, the Mongols took the island of Tsushima and used it as one of the springboards for attacking southern Japan, but were defeated and destroyed by the determined Japanese resistance and a mighty Typhoon, called the “Divine Wind”. It was the first military campaign outside of China that made use of gunpower.
The second time was during May 27-28, 1905, when a Japanese fleet destroyed the Russian fleet during the battle of Tsushima Strait. With this battle, the Russian efforts to hang on their far eastern empire were doomed, and they lost the war. This was the first war won by an Asian country over a European country for many centuries, all throughout the gunpower era, and marked the rise of Japan on its way to becoming a major world power. A young naval officer, Yamamoto Isoroku, lost two of his fingers in the battle. Had he lost a third he would have been medically discharged from the Japanese navy and perhaps the Pearl Harbor attack would never have happened.
And the third time was on the night of June 25-26, 1950.
It is interesting that the vision of one man, obtaining a warship for newly independent, recently occupied, by the Empire of Japan, but extremely poor country of South Korea, became his mission. And how he inspired his officers so that his mission became their mission, and then mission of the enlisted men serving under them and the mission of their families. Raising enough money, not near enough to buy the warship, but enough to convince the poor government that they should pay the bill that was difficult to afford. The 3-inch gun and 100 rounds of ammunition was purchased with the left-over funds, which I imagine came from the scape metal and laundry funds.
And so, it became possible for a few determined men on an open machine gun swept deck to turn the tide of history, so that to this day (well night), as can be seen from the space station, the northern half of the peninsula is left in darkness, while the southern half shines with light.
History that for sure needs to be remembered. Lots of people never knew about the U-boats hunting our shores today. Bless those brave men for trying to keep our shores safe!
In L. Ron Hubbard's defense, that wasn't just any old magnetic anomaly, but in fact a Xenu spaceship!
🤣🤣🤣🤣
korbell 😂
L. Ron Hubbard: "I reject your reality and substitute my own!"
😂🤣
That explains a lot.
My ship in the US Navy was a seagoing ("fleet") tug. At 210' we were finally bigger than SOMEbody!
My wife is a caregiver. Bert, one of her favorites, used to tell about his days at sea. He was on a PC. I had never heard of them. But Bert asked me what I could find on his class of ship. Surprisingly I found a fair amount and a picture of his ship. Bert was elated! It was like he felt completed... finally acknowledged. Poor old Bert is gone now. But I got to bring a bright spot into his days. I'm so glad.
Nowadays when I hear anything about the PCs my ears perk up. Now they mean something to me as well.
Thank you Lance.
Another good job.
My dad served on a PC(C) after serving on a harbor tug. Sailed to Pearl on the tug from San Diego.
There's just so much history that deserves - to be remembered...
Thank-you ! My Dad and my uncle were on SC744 and Sunk/Kamikazed off Leyte Gulf at the end of 1944. Just received the commissioning flag last year that was in my Uncles personals. I believe the Boat was built at the Quincy Addams shipyard on 5 8 1942.
Thanks for this - my father served on the USS SC-724 in the Pacific. I never thought I'd see a documentary about the splinter fleet.
The way you tell these stories from the past is just captivating to me. I was listening to one of your others before this one and almost burned my lunch (grilled cheese sandwich) because time got away from me! Thank you for this work!
I've always found these boats super adorable, like shrunk down mini Fletchers, their individual stories and history just make me love them even more ..even 815
My grandfather was a Boatswain's First Mate on USS SC 511 in WW2, one of two SC's he served on in the Atlantic.
Thanks for the video and information.
14:08 the very first hours and days of The Korean War on June 25th 1950,
with the ROK troops fighting alone against the North Korean juggernaut, is also History that deserves to be remembered.
Thank you Mr. The History Guy.
Well done! These ships exemplified the “Can do” attitude of the US Navy!
My dad served on PC476 in the South Pacific, I really enjoyed hearing you talk about this ship, my dad would have liked your channel. Thanks HG.
Heroes come in all character colors 👍 Thank you for sharing 🇺🇸
Same thing goes for Zeroes...
As a proud U.S. NAVY veteran I salute Captain Claudius and the brave crew of those ships. Navy brass can be real jackoffs. But in the end, The NAVY does it all and does it ALL AT ONCE ! 👍🏻🇺🇸
George B
, you are correct in portraying navy brass as jackoffs. They still are and I guess always will be. I've met very, very few naval officers that I actually felt good about.
PC-566's story is one of my favorite WWII stories and I'm glad Dr. Ballard was able to help set the record straight and that Captain Claudius got the credit he deserved.
Thank you for mentioning the "Shetland Bus" operations - that's a story worth an episode of its own
No matter what name they may have gone by, they stood in harms way to defend our homeland. For this they have my Respect.
Subchasers were bought by shipowners in the Philippines and served for more than 20 years as converted ferry vessels ferrying people and cargo between the islands. At least 5 of them served with Sweet Lines Inc. a shipping firm known for its pioneering spirit and founded by a loving chinese immigrant couple, LimPoh and Basilisa and later expanded by their 10 children.
Lance, a thought struck me whilstlistenung to the close of this and that is your tag loine, history that desrves to be remembered. I think that all history deserves to be remembered because it teaches us how to be better people and also who we are.
My Dad, born in 1906, was assigned to a U-Boat chaser, on a British-made "flower-corvette" named the HMS Periwinkle, which the USA obtained from HM, and renamed the USS Restless PG66. I had pictures of her crew in my mother's scrapbook for scores of years, until the internet developed enough for me to know what those photos were that she saved and pasted in the book. I sent copies of the photos to Navsource where they can be seen today. Both my mother (1914-1951) and my father (1906-1972) said nothing about Dad's Naval past after I was born in 1946, but wow do I know NOW! My respect for my father and those first 40 years of his brief life come from knowledge that is now shared with the world through the internet. Thanks for doing this video. I wouldn't be here at all if my Dad's Gunboat hadn't been spared sinking, too. He was on it way before I was born and he was assigned to other ships for the Pacific War, and when I got his military records in 2008 I discovered he had been to Iwo Jima, Okinawa, and even played piano for Bob Hope in 1950 from his aircraft carrier assignment in Korea, on the USS Valley Forge CV45, during which our mother died of cancer. The men of this great country have many no idea of how indebted we ALL are to them for the freedoms we still enjoy because they joined the US Navy or other branches of the service that fought the real enemies of the world in the first half of the 20th Century, because they are now gone! But let us not forget that freedom carries a price, though God gives man all the freedom he needs to do anything he wants, right or wrong. That is through free-will agency innate in every human being at birth, though many tyrants have tried to thwart the good-will of mankind through nefarious means. Man WILL someday fight his LAST WAR to end all wars, and there will be world peace FORCED on man, even against his will by the King of kings, in due time. There will be no end to the peace brought in by that last war, that man will lose when he fights his own Maker! Thank God!
My father served as gunnery office on PC620 in the Med, starting in N Africa, then Sicily and up the coast of Italy. The ship's logs and action reports provide an interesting history.
Nothing like a cup of coffee and a THG episode to start my morning!
Same here. Coffee is slow dripping while I listen. Have a great week.
A beer and THG to end your day is good too
In my timezone THG drops at Beer:30!
Don't mind a new THG episode at beer:30 myself when I've had a busy morning!
Saw lying down early pre coffee. Waited till over for my cup o joe gi joe that is!
USN served. Spruance class DD which could sink ANY wwii battleship and E. Six mk_48 at 35 kts 8"/54's at 16 a minute turning in half hull length. Try hitting her. Yep 32 8" ers a minute fir-power
Cool...what a timely episode. I'm currently reading Edward Stafford's Subchaser again. It's always been one of my favorite books. Thanks, THG
defthammer Thanks for the pointer - I’ll get that book bought!
@@andyreynolds6194 Excellent. If you can't find it in print, I think you can still get it from Amazon.
Great piece! My Dad served on SC711 and PC610 1945-46. He’d gone through the V-12 program and entered active duty as an ensign in March ‘45. A couple years ago I donated a box of his WWII
papers, letters, photos, etc to the Patrol Craft Sailor’s Association’s archives Bay City, MI.
Great stories History Guy! Glad to be an early Patron member. During the war, my Dad was inducted straight from the US Weather Bureau into the US Coast Guard as a Chief Warren officer. Lacking satellite-based weather data for convoys and war efforts in Europe, the military placed US Coast Guard ice cutters in a string of points across the Atlantic gathering weather information which would soon constitute the weather on the beaches of Normandy and into Germany. These small ships, ill-designed for heavy seas and poorly equipped for battle, spent 60-day missions cruising 100 nautical mile circles around these pre-selected positions reporting the weather. Armed only with several small deck guns and limited depth charges, these ships provided vital data for military planning in Europe.
Lance, this would make an excellent topic to cover!
I used to go fishing on open party boats in my youth and I was told by the captains of several boats that their boats were surplus Navy WWII sub chasers.
Me too. One was the Bronx Queen docked in the Bronx river at (?) Soundview Ave.
I think the old Palace was a name of another that ran out of NJ but would stop off at a West Side pier and pick up NYC fishermen on 50th street.
There was another on the South Shore of LI and another at Montalk
I forgot the others.
I worked aboard a WW2 65 ft. air/sea/rescue and a 85 ft. air/sea rescue. Worked my way through college. Thanks Navy.
Did John Wayne not have a converted mine sweeper?
Great video
Thank you for this excellent history... my dad served on a pc sub chaser. These are the best photos I have ever seen
Wow, this episode full of amazing anecdotes.
Seriously, besides a u-boat captain, who thumbs down this???
Thumbs down still helps with the algorithm
Most likely Scientologists after the accurate description of their Dear Dead Leader.
Democrats who hate America probably.
@@commiessuckballs2287 careful. CNN (militant Democrat news) is putting out hits on those it disagree with.
Ikr
Thanks for this article. My father served on PC 608 in the Caribbean and then she was sent to the Pacific after VE Day, while enroute the war ended. You do great work History Guy.
What a great video. Thank you so much for making it. I've been looking for a video on these SCs for may years. My father was a motor machinist's mate 2nd class on SC 646 from 1942 - 1944. When he was not on duty in the engine room his battle station was a loader for the 40mm Bofors cannon gun. He told me that engine room was very hot and shaky from the waves. The ship was so small they couldn't make their own fresh water, and part of his job was to monitor the fresh water tanks and report the amounts to the Captain. If the water was running too low, they would shut off the water for a day to conserve. No showers that day. The 646 was part of a 3 SC escort for conveys going from Key West, FL. to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Several times they detected a submarine, but when they went after it, it ran off.
Thank you once again for another great episode of history that otherwise would be forgotten.
I have mentioned my pops several times. He joined the Coast Guard at 16 to help support his family. After two years he had enough of the ocean. He joined the Army Air Corp in 1940. He was a conscientious objector so he was placed in the metal repair shop repair c30s that flew the hump. He said he got what he deserved because instead of flying to India and Burma he circumnavigated the earth joining the Sons of Magellan. The parchment is awesome looking still after all these years. I wish you would look up the sons of Magellan
Thank you again for another great video to watch while we get ready for work.
UA-cam has its uses 😉
@@18Bees Learning something is big plus.
My Scout Master spent his war (WWII) in the Alutians aboard a Spliter Ship. They were constantly fearful of contacting an IJN submarine which outgunned them by a wide margin. Thanks ever so much!
Wonderful episode! Really loved it, thank you!
As a long-time watcher & subscriber (also being a historian myself) I am very proud of you guys (Mr. & Ms.) !
Y'all seem to never stray in presenting your shows as essentially a moderate & a non-political as one can afford to !!
Stay at it!
I'm thinkin' your presentations would go over great on PBS Kids or local Saturday programs aimed at making history accessible to children 8-18 ... ?
I can see it now.
A future pbs telethon will include "The History Guy" !!
(My major was history, not grammer 😆 )
Both of my grammers are ded.
I've never been attracted to U.S. military history, until I discovered THG. His delivery makes any topic engaging!
Another interesting story. The famed Ski film producer Warren Miller was on a sub chaser in the Pacific and it ran aground in a typhoon. He was credited in helping save the crew on the beach. My Grandfather was also on a sub chaser in the pacific and used to tell me a story of a typhoon they got stuck in and he watched another boat hit a beach and the crew all jumped off into the waves and scrambled into the jungle. I didnt hear the Warren Miller story until he recently died but finally put two and two together that my Grandfather could very well have watched Warren Miller save his crew from his own boat. I am a skier and always watched Warren Miller's movies and its crazy to think my own Grandfather may have met him or saw him back in WWII.
My father aboard a sub chaser during WW2 in the Northern Pacific as a first class gunners mate. Thanks for spotlighting these small Naval vessels.
We used to go deep sea fishing on a boat out of Cape May NJ in early 1960's called the Irma B. We were told that it was converted as a sub cahaser during WW2. My dad used to fish on it before the war. Was only an average size fishing boat. Amasing that a 60 or 80' boat made several trips across the Atlantic Ocean. Sorry we never took a picture of her.
Nicely done! Especially the bit about L. Ron Hubbard. You always seem to include a little Easter Egg in your topics. Great stuff.
My uncle served on PC1172. After VE Day, he was transferred to the Pacific, where he was killed in June 1945.
I am sorry for your loss.
solute to the fallen and we are all sorry for your loss
RIP
My condolences friend tragic loss so near the end
Bravo Zulu for your Uncle. Semper Fi
My dad was a plank holder on PC 1192. Radar man 3rd class. Based out if Trinidad, they escorted convoys from South America , to the Mediterranean. Tough duty, hulls were so thin, they were always sweating. Not enough fresh water. Sailors from larger ships would get sea sick because they rolled so much.
My dad served on the YMS 136 during the invasion of Guam as executive officer and later commanded the YMS 73 off the Philippines from just after the end of the war until January of 1946. He had mentioned that a sub chaser was the only thing out there smaller than a YMS. An episode about the YMS ships would be appreciated. Jacques Cousteau's Calypso was an converted BYMS lend leased to the British during the war and later sold to France. John Wayne had bought one and converted it to a yacht. The motto for the YMS's was "Where ever the fleet goes, we've been!"
Crazy, as a former US Navy submariner I never knew this! Grateful, history guy.
Another wonderful video.
Could you do a video on the WWII Q-Ships?
As a former Coastguardsmen I served aboard the US Coast Cutter Ute.
Her keel was laid in 1944.
She was essentially an ocean going tug for disabled vessels. She was 205' and had a large boom and a great amount of chain to recover ships with.
But she also used her 5" guns in combat.
She also resupplied troops in the Pacific.
She served in the Korean War. The soldiers in Korea nicknamed her the Deadeye Ute as her fire support from her 5" guns was so accurate.
She served in Vietnam but for some clerical error she was not awarded a Vietnam Campaign Ribbon.
After Vietnam she was
transferred to the Navy.
Because of the shortage of Coast Guard vessels during the Mariel Boatlift Exodus from Cuba and the War on drugs, the Ute was transferred back to the Coast Guard. She was refitted and her big boom and heavy chains for towing ships were removed. So she road like a cork.
While I was aboard during this period we kept her looking like a new vessel.
On her cruises we performed drug interdiction, fisheries, rescue and immigration missions. Sometimes preforming each of these in a single day.
We also refueled our 82' and 95' patrol cutters.
At one time we had 72 rescued Hatian refugees aboard which was heart breaking duty.
The Veterans of the Ute were disappointed when she was sunk for gunnery practice and formed an artificial reef when she was decommissioned in 1988.
Her sister ship Tamaroa was the Real life hero of the 'Perfect Storm' she rescued 7 people in 40' waves.
But she was also sunk to make an artificial reef.
Another amazing episode. Love history especially when it's told so well.
Thank you for this episode. My dad served on the SC536 picking it up in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin as it rolled off the "assembly line". SC536 was one of the ships to join in the attempt to kill the Japanese submarine; they were stationed in Astoria, Oregon at the time. When he told me about the action, he claimed that the crew never knew the outcome of the event, but his captain was called to their headquarters the next day; upon his return, he ordered the men to never speak of it again.
Thanks for this video. In the mid 1960s I spent some time on a naval reserve training ship stationed at Chicago on Lake Michigan. I was just out of boot camp and waiting to move on to the "real" fleet. She was the USS Worland PCE845 and my first experience on a ship. Good times!
Dear History Guy,
Thanks for an informative and interesting episode on the sub-chasers.
In 1969, after basic training at Great Lakes, I was transferred to the USS Ely, located in Sheboygan, WI. The purpose was to give me, and my fellow Naval reservists, some idea of what life aboard ship was like. We reported to the ship on December 14, and stayed aboard about six weeks.
If life aboard ship today was anything like the Ely, the USN would not exist.
The Ely was build in 1943, commissioned PCE-880 in 1944, named the USS Ely in 1956, and sent to the Naval Reserve in 1947. She was decommissioned in July of 1970.
Some high points of life aboard the Ely:
The bathroom (head), was a row of six toilets facing six sinks. No privacy of any kind.
The deck was plain steel. When your feet hit it in the morning, they froze to the deck for a few moments until you could warm up enough to get loose.
The "beds" or "racks" were pieces of canvas (around 3x6') stretched between four posts, at each corner. There were five 'racks' per location.
The ship was heated by an ancient steam boiler that failed every night, around 2 or 3 a.m., meaning the temperature in the ship dropped to around freezing by 0530. We spent every morning I was aboard trying to fix that boiler.
The ship was old enough that there were no repair parts available. We jury rigged a lot of stuff aboard that ship.
Not only was the radar so old that it had vacuum tubes, but the vacuum tubes it used were no longer available; so no radar. Same for the sonar.
The ship had no holding tanks for waste. It was just pumped over the side. Every night the Sheboygan river froze, and every morning there would be a big pile of waste sitting on top of the ice, next to the ship.
In short, the USS Ely was uninhabitable by today's standards. It was finally sunk of the cost of Delaware to be part of an artificial reef in 2010.
By the way, when I was aboard, the USS Ely was known as DDE-880. When I see it on the interweb today it is listed as PCE-880. Wonder when they changed the designation?
Thanks again for an interesting episode.
Just a heads up Mr. History Guy, you will definitely need a bigger coin rack. I’m sure you have a lot of military fans 🇺🇸
I've got a few Law Enforcement coins from a few Departments, my SRT team and a St. Michael's coin I'd sent him.
@@andyv16012 we used to trade patches. And some still do.
But now coins are the rage.
@@whiterabbit-wo7hw I never got into collecting patches or coins. I have a few patches from my Departments I've worked at- more, less send them to people that make quilts out of then for sick children.
When you said El Ron Hubbard I figured yeah he was definitely Chasing Ghosts
I know so little of these small but important vessels, I seem to always be thanking you History guy.
Thank you. Enjoyable episode.
My family is from Antwerp Belgium and I have been told many times that The Antwerp harbor received almost as many V1 & V2 Rockets as London. I would like to see a video on that.
About 300 if I remember . A mile from me is the site of the last Civillian killed by a V2 in the Second World War. Poor women was in her kitchen preparin a meal.
My children's elementary school is named after Samuel Gravely. It's in Northern Virginia.
This is incredible!! I consider myself as a history nut!! Especially United States Navy history!! Yet, I never knew about these warships!!! WOW!! Those sailors were extraordinarily brave!!
Thank you, shipmates, for your incredible, implacable duties!! 🫡🫡🫡🫡
Fair winds and, following seas, shipmates!! 🫡🫡🫡🫡
Another masterful presentation from this world class historian. ***** 5 Stars
As usual a interesting story, keep it up.
The “3” stands for third class, ie MM3 is machinists mate third class.
Again, as a reminder, I work in one of the last hangars built during WWII for the airships used in sub-hunting, right off the outer banks of NC!
Where's that.....? 🤔
In the Great War Blimps were also used for anti submarine patrols. On the Wardershare Estate near Dover there is a narrow valley , with a pit dug in the bottom, known as Airship. The Blimps were brought in to the valley and the gondolas fitted into the pit.
@@gus473 on the coast of North Carolina, look up 'graveyard of the Atlantic', also. The U-boat patrols used this location because it was a 'choke point' of sorts, as the coastline curves outwards for several miles.
Ed G Power Specifically, where is the hangar located? Is it still in use for aviation?
@@kmlammto we build airships and aerostats, and we are in Weeksville, NC, outside of Elizabeth City.
My dad served on PCC-598 in the Pacific. Good seeing a video on these smaller vessels.
Glad I'm up for this!
12:11 It was USO's They saw the 2 craft before they entered the water. They were playing Cat and Mouse with our Navy for 63 hours!
One whale saysto the other 'Bloody hell! What does it take to get these guys of our backs? :-)
Back in the mid 70's I took a "ferry" from L.A. to Catalina island. Because I was a WW2 buff, I knew that this vessel was a converted subchaser (something I confirmed by checking with Janes Fighting Ships after the trip).
THG was right in that distillation of water was an issue as the crew warned us to make few trips to the restroom. This only added to the seasickness of the tour group I was with. The irony being that this group teased me unmercifully about the to be trip on water (they were projecting on to me). I returned the trip by asking the ring leaders during the trip to the island "Hey, you all right?"
I just enjoyed the fact that I got to take a trip on living history-as it was.
Yep. That ship was like a thrill ride, the trip I took there and back (too windy to fly).
Was this the ex-USS GRINELL, PC815?
@@civmar1 I have no idea. I only knew for sure that it was just a subchaser.
Thank you for a very good video on Sub Chasers. They deserve credit for the job well done. I enjoy your videos a great deal. I am an old US Navy man and i really appreciate your work. Thanks again.
Have ever you done a video on the Great White Fleet. My great grandfather served as a Marine on the USS Louisiana I believe between 1907 and 1910. I do know from family stories that he sailed around the world at least once or once and a half times . And I believe he was a board when President Roosevelt sailed to the Panama Canal. I also have pictures of him in Cuba. Thanks for the great history lessons.
I can remember being on a SC class subchaser while in the Sea Scouts located in the San Francisco Bay Area. The ship was the SS Northland, it was a subchaser in ww2.
There were many US PCs sold or loaned to Ally navies after WW2. In 1960, I read my uncle's China Time newspaper ( Issued from Taiwan, in English.) and found a story of an ex-US PC which was renumbered as 104 in the Rep of China navy. This shallow draft PC was escorting LST to resupply an island just 3 miles from Communist China. She fought 6 Communist torpedo boats and gun boats. Sunk 3 of them and damaged two, but she herself was severely damaged with 60 casualties. The PC limped 200 miles to her home base and had to be scraped later. For a hastly built 290-ton sub chaser, this PC fought like a Fletcher DD.
The PC was ex-USN PC-1247, the Chinese Communist did not admit the sinking of their PT boats, like always.
From 1960 until 1962 I served as a radioman on board the USS Peterson DE-152, a destroyer escort based in Key West FL. Her call-sign was NQES. Every morning scores of sonar school students came aboard and we headed into the gulf waters to chase submarines for their training. Most of the equipment on board was WWII vintage, but served us well. After the Cuban Blockade in 1962 she was decommissioned and sent to the scrap yard. Thank you for the DE memories you reactivated.
I might be the last guy you'll meet who's fired a K gun. Back in 1967 our CG Cutter Mackinac was being decommissioned, we had one depth charge and one K gun. We had arranged with the Navy to offload our ammunition, mostly five inch, but they didn't want the depth charge that dated back to WW2 and had been sitting on our fantail ever since. The choice was to fire it since due to structural issues dropping a charge wouldn't put it far enough away from our vessel when it detonated even if we were going max speed, there we also structural issues about the deck area under the K gun (basically a mortar). As the newly minted gunnery officer it was my job to pull the lanyard, I did and it fired deploying the charge off the starboard side, shortly thereafter the charge itself detonated resulted in quite a splash. We circled around and found a lot of dead fish, no damage to our hull or to the deck under the gun.
Once the U.S. Navy put to sea the "Hunter Killer" groups ... (baby flattops and DD's) U-Boats truly became the hunted. The capture of U505 bears that out. But well earned Bravo Zulu to the crews of the PC's and the SC's.
I was Army. My brother was Navy - submarine. He told me there are 2 kinds of ships: subs & targets.
If you ever tire of your brother’s line just look him in the eye and say, “PBY-5 Catalina.”
My father served 30 years in the USN. 20 active and 10 as a reservist. He was on destroyers and cruisers and his last ship was the USS New Jersey when it was ported in Long Beach Ca. He has a joke about submariners.
"120 sailors and officers leave for a 90 day patrol on a Los Angeles Class Submarine. How many come back?" Answer, none. He said "60 couples come back to home port."
@@epramos6800, no no no, it's 151 men, 75 happy couples, and one grump.
I spent roughly three years underwater in total, riding missile boats. I'd tell that joke later on in civilian life...always pissed off a fellow submariner at the same workplace. I told the other folks that he was #151.
@@ssbn6175 well my dad told that joke in the early 90s... But we all get the gist..
@@epramos6800, aye, absolutely. It always kinda cracked me up to find a guy what couldn't take a joke...opens up endless possibilities. It gets pretty boring down there...
Great stuff as always, I learn a lot in this episode, thank you!
You never fail to bring forgotten history back to life and make it forgotten no more. Enjoyed greatly
I’ve got a picture of my grandfather sitting on a depth charge rack. He was on wooden minesweepers. He also was an electrician and worked on USS Pirate and USS Pledge. Both sunk during Korea.
If I remember correct; the reason the wooden hulled Subchasers were used for minesweepers instead of the metal hulled ones - it was known that the Axis used magnetic mines. I believe that the conversion included extending the propeller shaft, so that the metal propeller was further away from the ship - in case the metal set off a mine.
@@tommy-er6hh Yes , in coastal waters and harbour entrances German U Boats and aircraft laid 'Influence Mines' Magnetic , acioustic or a mixture of both fuses. Wooden hulled ships and aircraft with giant electro magnetic loops under the fusalage were used. A lot of fishing trawlers and drifters of the Royal Naval Patrol Servcie did the work. They also did Ocean escort as rescue ships including the infamous P17 convoy. De Gaussing wa sanothe rpreventive method . A large cable was wiped up the hull of steel ships to neauterlise the magnetic feild. Played merry hell with the compass swinging. One such Degaussing station was on the River Thames near Coalhouse Fort, just down river from Tilbury. Buildings are still there. The accoustic sweep was a large metal frame with a giant bell and clapper towed astern of the ship. Codename Foxer.
Charles Howell Which YMS?
@@andythomson460 I have a photo of the USS Pirate in drydock at Sasebo. And, I have one of him on the USS Pledge sitting on the depth charge rack. He was an E-9 and a master electrician. He worked on many of those minesweepers.
Charles Howell, don't all good Navy stories have Pirates?
I was stationed on a sub chaser, USS Talbot FFG4 in the early eighties ;-) We had torpedoes and Asrocs (anti submarine rockets) for subs.
My grandfather was on USS PC-593 as a Chief Machinist's Mate. I contacted some of his shipmates and they sent me pictures of him. I miss you, Grandpa.
Dear History Guy, You should do a video about SMS Seeadler the 3 masted German Raider of WWI. The captain would dine with his POWs and drink fine wine with them. He would humanly drop them off at neutral ports in the South Pacific. As a kid, I built a Revell model of it in the 1960s.
Being a Navy Vet of 2 DDs, I love your ASW and destroyer stories. You might recall, I commented about your most excellent story about the USS Kitty Hawk running over a Soviet Victor Class sub off of South Korea in 1984? That was the best way to initiate ASW! Legend has it that the Rusky sub capt is still in-charge of the ice cube making machine in Siberia. When we returned to our home port after that cruise, they made us remove the little red painted sub from the starboard side of our bridge. Anchors Aweigh History Guy! 😀
10:10 I'd be interested to hear more details about that story. While the US Navy has a lot to be proud of, it also has a lot to be ashamed of when it comes to the way it treats guys like that.
Let's not forget.... The ice cream!
There is a book that talks about u.s. pc-12 6-4. The title of the book is called Black Company. And it's a good book.
Thank you!
Two other books you might enjoy The Shetland Bus by David J Howarth, that deals with the Shetland -Norway routes, and the attack on Tirpitz. The Battle of the Narrow Seas by Peter Scott, that deals with the RN coastal boats , MTB's MGB's and the Steam Gun Boats in the English Channel. Scott is better known for the Slimbridge Wildfowl Trust in Norfolk, and was also an artist. All the illustrations of the book are drawn or painted by him.
I wouldn't mind a history of the history guy episode. He is a very intriguing man
Thank you for the awesome video another item of history i have not heard of i have heard of DEs and DDs but never heard of these subchasers i love these little tidbits of histories you put out it make a great start in the Morning
"Small but Mighty"... History Deserves to be Remembered. Thank you H G for reminding us that some of the greatest contributions were made by the little guys (and gals!)
I love you and your videos, but i have to say that the original intro with the friendly music was better, good thing that your videos make up for it :)
That's a fact
I like the change too. It is fun. Altough I did like verbal intro.
Your Accuracy and expertise is exceptional! As a retired Captain whose specialty during the cold war was aviation ASW (S2A,B,D, and E and E1B) aircraft
You have the knack of tying together all the parts of the situation. Well done!
My Grandfather was a Chief Machinist's Mate on USS PC-593 during World War 2. I love you, Grandpa.
The uss Laffey is still afloat as a museum ship in South Carolina
Despite being bombed, strafed, rammed with aircraft, rammed with a ship, and attempted sinking with a nuclear bomb. The Laffey DD-724 is alive and well, enjoying a well deserved retirement at Patriots Point.
@@johnbeauvais3159 One tough old ship! Sounds like it deserves some quiet time.
A nuclear bomb? She was never apart of the Abomb testing.
Kevin Haywood Yes she was in Bikini in May 1946 during Operation Crossroads collecting data and had to be decontaminated
Been aboard it!