USS PCS-1424

Figure 1:  USS PCS-1424 photographed by her builder, Burger Boat Company, Manitowoc, Wisconsin, on 24 November 1943. Official US Navy photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image. 

Figure 2:  USS PCS-1424 probably photographed by her builder, Burger Boat Company, at Manitowoc, Wisconsin, on 24 November 1943. Note that she is fitted with Mousetrap anti-submarine rocket launchers forward. Official US Navy photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 3:   USS PCS-1424 photographed circa November 1943. Courtesy of William H. Davis, 1977. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

The 251-ton USS PCS-1424 was a submarine chaser built by the Burger Boat Yard at Manitowoc, Wisconsin, and was commissioned on 24 November 1943. The ship was approximately 136 feet long and 24 feet wide, had a top speed of 14 knots, and had a crew of 57 officers and men. PCS-1424 was armed with one 3-inch gun, one 40-mm gun, two depth-charge tracks, two depth-charge projectors, and two Mark 22 rocket launchers.

PCS-1424 served as an escort along America’s Atlantic coastline for the remainder of World War II and into 1946. The ship was decommissioned in April 1946 and was stricken from the Navy list the following month. PCS-1424 was sold to a private owner by the US Maritime Commission in November 1946.

Submarine chasers made excellent first commands for naval officers. Not only did they give new captains important practical experience, but submarine chasers also acted as vital naval escorts for highly vulnerable merchant ships during World War II. Ships like these rarely received any publicity, let alone major recognition. But at a time when merchant ships were literally being sunk off America’s coast, they played an important role in winning the naval war against German U-boats.