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NavSource Online:
Submarine Chaser Photo Archive

PC-496

Sunk 4 June 1943
PC-461 Class Submarine Chaser:

  • Laid down 24 April 1941 by the Leathem D. Smith Coal and Shipbuilding Co., Sturgeon Bay, WI
  • Launched 22 November 1941
  • Commissioned 26 February 1942 at New Orleans, LA
  • During World War II, was assigned to the Caribbean Sea Frontier and the European theater of operations
  • Torpedoed and sunk by an Italian submarine 4 June 1943 off Bizerte, Tunisia.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 280 t.(lt) , 450 t.(fl)
  • Length 173' 8"
  • Beam 23'
  • Draft 10' 10"
  • Speed 20.2 kts.
  • Complement 65
  • Armament: One 3"/50 dual purpose gun mount, one single 40mm gun mount, three 20mm guns, two depth charge projector "mousetrap" launchers, 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-496 86k Launching Historical Collections of the Great Lakes
    PC-496 117k Sturgeon Bay, WI
    The John J. Roen Co. tug John Roen III is alongside    		 Joe Radigan
    Photo added 11 April 2021
    PC-496 62k Lorraine Welter-Kreutzer
    (whose Uncle lost his life when PC-496 sank
    Commanding Officers
    01LT James S. Dowdell, USNR26 February 1942 - 4 June 1943
    Courtesy Joe Radigan
    There is no DANFS History currently available for PC-496
    Read "The PC-496 Lived Again"
    Additional Resources and Websites of Interest
    Patrol Craft Sailors Association
    Back to the Main Photo Index Back to the Patrol Craft/Gunboat/Submarine Chaser Ship Type Index Back to the Submarine Chaser (PC) Photo Index
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    This page created by Joseph M. Radigan and maintained by Tom Bateman
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