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Submarine Chaser Photo Archive

PC-1603



PC-1603 call sign:
Nan - Able - Kilo - George

ex-Force (AM 99)

Destroyed 24 October 1945
Adroit Class Minesweeper:

  • Laid down 19 November 1941 by the Penn-Jersey Corp., Camden, NJ
  • Launched 7 September 1942
  • Commissioned USS Force (AM 99), 16 June 1943
  • Reclassified a Submarine Chaser, PC-1603, 1 June 1944
  • On 26 May 1945, while anchored in Kimmu Wan, Okinawa, PC-1603 was struck by two Kawasaki "Tony" kamikaze aircraft. The first hit the bow at the water line and the second hit the bow at
    deck level. Three lives were lost and 15 wounded mostly from burns
  • On 21 June 1945 she was decommissioned and towed to the ship grave yard at Kerama Retto
  • Struck from the Naval Register 24 October 1945 and the hulk was ordered destroyed
  • The hull was incorporated in the building of a breakwater/dock and officially donated to the Government of the Ryuku Islands on 10 July 1957
  • PC-1603 was awarded three battle stars for the Leyte, Luzon and Okinawa landings.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 295 t.
  • Length 173' 8"
  • Beam 23'
  • Draft 11' 7"
  • Speed 16.8 kts.
  • Complement 65
  • Armament: One 3"/50 dual purpose mount, one 40mm gun, five 20mm guns, two depth charge projectors, two depth charge tracks, and two rocket launchers
  • Propulsion: Two 1440bhp Busch-Sulzer BS 539 diesel engines (Serial No. BS 1147 and BS 1148), Farrel-Birmingham single reduction gear, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Force (AM 99)
    Force 21k The last of the Adroit-class minesweepers, the Force (AM-99), is seen in a builder's trials photo five days before her commissioning on 16 June 1943. As completed, the Adroits carried a 3-inch, 50-caliber Mk 22 dual-purpose gun forward and no main-deck gun aft; initially they were fitted with one 20-mm antiaircraft gun atop the pilothouse and two more abreast the mast, but later units received four 20-mm mounts. For antisubmarine duties, they were given two Mk 7 depth-charge tracks
    U.S. Navy photo from the August 2002 edition of Naval History magazine    		 Joe Radigan
    USS PC-1603
    PC-1603 105k Bob Daly/PC-1181
    PC-1603 59k Hyperwar U.S. Navy in WW II
    Commanding Officers
    01LT Thomas Tobias Scudder, USNR16 June 1943
    02LT Paul Francis McLaughlin, USNR14 November 1943
    03LT Loren William Smoyer, USNR17 May 1944 - 27 December 1944
    04LT Adam H. Romeiser, USNR27 December 1944 - 21 June 1945
    Courtesy of Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves and Joe Radigan
    View the PC-1603
    DANFS history entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway website
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    Patrol Craft Sailors Association
    Back to the Main Photo Index Back to the Mine Warfare Ship Photo Index Back to the Minesweeper (AM) Photo Index Back to the Patrol Craft/Gunboat/Submarine Chaser Ship Index Back to the Submarine Chaser (PC) Photo Index
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