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NavSource Online:
Submarine Chaser Photo Archive

SC-639



Call sign:
Nan - William - Peter - Oboe

ex-PC-639


SC-639 served the Navies of the United States and France.
SC-497 Class Submarine Chaser:

  • Laid down 16 August 1941 by the Elizabeth City Shipyards, Elizabeth City, NC
  • Launched, 31 December 1941
  • Commissioned USS PC-639, 22 June 1942
  • Reclassified SC-639 in April 1943
  • Transferred to France 22 May 1944 at Oran, Algeria, reclassified CH-93 and assigned to the 9th Submarine Chaser Division at Mers-el-Kébir, Algeria
  • Assigned in 1945 to Toulon, France as a gunnery and helmsman training and coastal patrol vessel
  • Assigned in March 1946 to minesweeping duties off the southern coast of France
  • Reclassified CH-723 in 1952
  • Reclassified P-723 in 1954
  • Reclassified as an Auxiliary, A-723 in 1959
  • Struck from the Naval Register 11 December 1963
  • Sold for scrap in 1965.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 148 t.
  • Length 110' 10"
  • Beam 17'
  • Draft 6' 6"
  • Speed 15.6 kts.
  • Complement 28
  • Armament: One 40mm gun mount, two .50 cal. machine guns, two dcp "Y Gun," and two dct
  • Propulsion: Two 800bhp General Motors 8-268A diesel engines, Snow and Knobstedt single reduction gear, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    SC-639
    SC-639 71k 20 June 1942
    Off Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, VA    		 Robert Hurst
    CH-93
    SC-639 68k c. 1946
    Jane's Fighting Ships photo    		 Joe Radigan
    P-723
    SC-639 51k c. 1954
    Photo courtesy M. Henri Le Masson from the 1961/1962 edition of "Jane's Fighting Ships"    		 Robert Hurst
    There is no DANFS history available for SC-639
    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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