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NavSource Online:
Motor Gunboat/Patrol Gunboat Photo Archive
Two left patches courtesy of Patrol Gunboat Association - Three right patches courtesy of Mike Smolinski

Crockett (PG 88)
ex-PGM-88


Crockett served both the U. S. Navy and the Environmental Protection Agency.
Asheville Class Motor Gunboat:

  • The second Crockett was laid down as PGM-88 at Tacoma Boatbuilding Co., Tacoma WA
  • Launched 4 June 1966
  • Sponsored by Mrs. Charles Horjes of Tacoma
  • Reclassified PG-88, 1 April 1967
  • Commissioned USS Crockett (PG-88), 24 June 1967
  • Decommissioned 1 October 1976
  • Struck from the Naval Register 15 December 1976
  • Transferred to the Environmental Protection Agency at Norfolk, VA on 1 April 1977 and renamed Rachel Carson
  • Declared excess to EPA needs in 1982 and transferred to the state of Illinois and then to the Combined Great Lakes Navy Association, Inc.
  • Scrapped.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 240 t. (lt), 285 t. (fl)
  • Length 164' 6"
  • Beam 23' 10"
  • Draft 5' 2" (lt), 9' 5" (fl)
  • Speed 40 kts.
  • Complement 37
  • Armament: One 3"/50 dual purpose gun mount, one 40mm gun mount and two twin .50 cal. machine guns
  • Propulsion: Two 725hp VT-12 875M Cummins diesel engines, one 1,370shp General Electric model LM 1500 gas turbine engine, two controllable pitch propellers.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Crockett (PG 88)
    Crockett 32k 4 June 1966 Tacoma Boatbuilding
    Crockett 47k
    USS Crockett (PG 88)
    Crockett 144k Paul McGurgan via
    Patrol Gunboat Association
    Terry W. McManuels, ETCM(SW), Ret.
    Crockett 111k
    Crockett 120k . Richard Miller, BMCS, USNR, Ret.
    Crockett 54k c. 1968
    Cam Ranh Bay, South Vietnam    		 David Meahl
    Crockett 52k
    Crockett 57k
    Crockett 232k c. 1968
    Off the coast of Vietnam
    Approaching Caliente (AO 53) for replenishment    		 Bill Dougherty
    Crockett 242k c. 1968
    Off the coast of Vietnam
    Alongside Caliente (AO 53)
    Crockett 120k
    Crockett 258k c. 1968
    Off the coast of Vietnam
    Breaking away from Caliente (AO 53)
    Crockett 243k
    Crockett 222k c. 1968
    Off the coast of Vietnam
    PCF-23 coming alongside Crockett to transfer personnel, for further transfer to an LPD further up the coast
    Crockett 257k
    Crockett 207k U.S. Navy photo from the June 1968 edition of All Hands magazine Joe Radigan
    Crockett 76k Off Vietnam, between July 1968 and March 1969
    U.S. Navy photo from the USS Cacapon (AO-52) 1968-69 cruise book    		 Robert Hurst
    Photo added 31 March 2022
    Crockett 50k c. 1969
    Dewatering on the Song Cau Lon, Vietnam    		 Patrol Gunboat Association
    Crockett 157k c. January/February 1969
    USS New Jersey (BB-62) and USS Crockett (PG-88), Drydock 6, Ship Repair Facility Yokosuka, Japan
    Photo by YN3 Clark Pickard, aboard Crockett    		 John Clingman, former crewmember USS Chehalis (PG-94)
    Crockett 105k U.S. Navy photo from the May 1972 edition of All Hands magazine Joe Radigan
    Crockett 213k c. 1973
    Crockett's Officers, left to right: ENS John Wayne Stillwell;, LT Frank Tryon, Commanding Officer and ENS Steven Swenton    		 John M. Stillwell
    Crockett 80k U.S. Navy photo from the July 1974 edition of All Hands magazine Joe Radigan
    Crockett 165k c. November 1974
    Chicago, IL
    Against Chicago's skyline Crockett arrived from Guam to be permanently stationed here
    Photo by Jerry Tomaselli of Field Enterprises, Inc.    		 Tommy Trampp
    Asheville 79k c. 1974
    Marathon (PG 89), Asheville (PG 88) and Crockett moored at the Naval Armory, Chicago, IL
    Photo by Lou Garard from Industrial History website    		 Bob Canchola, BT
    USS Oriskany 1971-1973
    Crockett 98k c. 1974
    Crockett moored at the Naval Armory, Chicago, IL
    Photo by Lou Garard from Industrial History website
    Research Vessel Rachel Carson
    Crockett 83k Historical Collections of the Great Lakes
    Commanding Officers
    01LT Michael Harry Freeman, USN24 June 1967 - January 1969
    02LT Paul L. Bennett, USN - Retired as CommanderJanuary 1969 - 5 January 1970
    03LT Jerry Robert Bailey, USN - USNA Class of 19645 January 1970 - 30 September 1971
    04LT Glendale Devon Love, USN30 September 1971 - 24 February 1973
    05LT Frank Harold Tryon, Jr., USN - U.S. Merchant Marine Academy Class of 1966
    Awarded the Defense Meritorious Service Medal and two Meritorious Service Medals - Retired as Captain    		24 February 1973 - 1974
    06LT William F. Halsey Berthiaume, USN1974 - 25 April 1975
    07LT George Samuel Rhodes, USN25 April 1975 - 31 January 1977
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler; Ron Reeves; Joe Radigan; LT James E. Scrimger, USNR and John Dusty Kidd
    There is no DANFS history currently available for Crockett (PG 88)
    View the Crockett (PG-88) Unofficial History entry located on the Patrol Gunboat Association Website
    "Welcome Aboard"
    the USS Crockett (PG 88)
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