Propulsion: Two 1,440bhp Hooven-Owen-Rentschler R-99DA diesel engines (Serial No. 6660 and 6661), Westinghouse single reduction gear, two shafts.
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PC-490 |
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Launching |
Bob Daly/PC-1181 |
USS PC-490 |
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Original photo by Lannie G. Walker SM3, crewmember PC-476 Replacement photo by Bob Daly/PC-1181 |
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c. 1941 Off Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 91132 |
Mike Green |
Commanding Officers
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01 | LT John L. Flynn, USNR | 12 May 1942 |
Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler
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PC-490
Dravo Corporation,
Pittsburgh, PennsylvaniaShortly after noon on 18 October 1941, amid the applause of thousands of spectators and the whistled salutes of river craft, the submarine chaser PC-490 slid sideways smoothly on a launching dolly at the shipyard of the Dravo Corporation on Neville Island and floated gracefully in the placid waters of the Ohio River. Neville Island sits in the middle of the Ohio river just west of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was the first time since the War of 1812 that a sea going fighting ship was launched from this inland river shipyard. It was the first of fifteen PC sub chasers to be built at the Neville Island yard and was the first PC to get underway with H. 0. R. main engines. She served with distinction in the Caribbean and South Atlantic Sea Frontiers, dropping many depth charges while on convoy duty in the early part of the war (1942-44). After overhaul at Miami, Florida she headed for the Pacific theater of operations. VJ Day found her in the Leyte Gulf. She was the first PC to go up the Wangpo River to Shanghai, China and had destroyed many mines in the Yellow Sea. She returned to the states on the 21st of December, 1945.
On the 27 August 1948, the PC-490 was turned over to the Taiwanese Navy were it served under the name of Wu Sung until 1952, when in was stricken and scrapped.
R. W. Daly/PC-1181
Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
Patrol Craft Sailors Association
This page created by Gary P. Priolo and maintained by Tom Bateman
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