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Submarine Chaser Photo Archive

PC-473



Call sign:
Nan - Able - Love - Dog


PC-473 served the United States and France
PC-461 Class Submarine Chaser:

  • Laid down 18 August 1941 by the Defoe Shipbuilding Co., Bay City, Michigan
  • Launched 19 November 1941
  • Commissioned USS PC-473, 9 December 1941
  • Departed Bay City on 9 December 1941, passed through the Great Lakes into the St. Lawrence River and arrived at Boston, MA in late December
  • PC-473 and two other PCs (PC-471 and PC-472) were the only PCs ever to use this route, all others used the Mississippi River
  • During World War II, PC-473 was assigned to the European theater of operations in the Moroccan Sea Frontier and Mediterranean
  • Decommissioned and transferred to France 7 July 1944 at Casablanca, Morocco and named L'Ardent (W 39)
  • Reclassified P-653
  • Collided with the SS Empire Abbey 15 February 1945 in Cora Harbor, Morocco, sank in 18 feet of water and broke in half
  • Stern section blew up 20 February 1945
    Naval Vessel Register of 1 January 1949 lists loss date as 10 March 1945
  • Struck from the Navy Register 10 March 1945.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 450 t.
  • Length 173' 8"
  • Beam 23'
  • Draft 10' 10"
  • Speed 20.2 kts.
  • Complement 65
  • Armament: One 3"/50 dual purpose gun mount, one 40mm gun mount, three 20mm guns, two rocket launchers, four depth charge projectors, and two depth charge tracks
  • Propulsion: Two 1,440bhp General Motors 16-258S diesel engines, Farrel-Birmingham single reduction gear, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    PC-473
    PC-473 88k 10 November 1941
    Resting on hydraulic launching dock.
    Great Lakes Institute Archives photo    		 Bob Daly/PC-1181
    PC-473 517k 19 November 1941
    Right after launching.
    Associated Press photo dated 1 April 1942    		 David Buell
    L'Ardent (P 653)
    PC-473 76k . Robertr Hurst
    There is no DANFS History currently available for PC-473
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    Patrol Craft Sailors Association
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    This page created by Joseph M. Radigan and maintained by Tom Bateman
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