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NavSource Online:
Submarine Chaser Photo Archive

Solvay (PC 603)
ex-PC-603



Call sign:
November - Uniform - Tango - Quebec

PC-461 Class Submarine Chaser:

  • Laid down 9 May 1942 at Consolidated Shipbuilding Corp., Morris Heights, NY
  • Launched 30 June 1942
  • Commissioned USS PC-603, 1 October 1942
  • Placed in service as a naval reserve training vessel in September 1946 in the 4th Naval District (Philadelphia)
  • Decommissioned 8 January 1947 at Philadelphia Navy Yard, Philadelphia, PA
  • Placed out of service 1 February 1956 at Norfolk, VA and laid up in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet, Norfolk Group
  • Named Solvay 15 February 1956
  • Struck from the Navy Register 1 July 1960
  • Approved for disposal 15 March 1961
  • Fate unknown.

    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, two 20mm guns, two depth charge projectors and two depth charge tracks
  • Propulsion: Two 1,440bhp Fairbanks Morse 38D8 1/8 diesel engines, Westinghouse single reduction gear, two shafts.

    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image
    Size Image Description Source
    PC-603
    Solvay 233k Photographed just after launch on 30 June 1942 at Consolidated Shipbuilding Corp., Morris Heights New York
    U.S. Navy photo NH 43520
    Naval History and Heritage Command
    USS PC-603
    Solvay 115k Christy Birling
    Solvay 113k
    Solvay 323k
    Solvay 388k From the collection of Fred Graves Janet Jones
    Solvay 34k CDR Flagg, CO, USS PC-603
    From the collection of Fred Graves
    Solvay 99k Ships officers. Left to right: LT Gaston, LTJG Scott, CDR Flagg, ENS Hopper and LT Hewitt
    From the collection of Fred Graves
    Solvay 52k Shipmates. Left to right: Clifford, Frederick W. Graves, Centner, and Stone
    From the collection of Fred Graves
    Solvay 76k c. January 1943
    Neah Bay, WA
    From the collection of Fred Graves

    View the Solvay (PC-603)
    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 Patrol Craft/Gunboat/Submarine Chaser Ship Index Back to the Submarine Chaser (PC) Photo Index

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    This page created by Gary P. Priolo and maintained by Tom Bateman
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