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NavSource Online:
Submarine Chaser Photo Archive

USCGC Air Finch (WAVR 422)
ex-USS SC-656



Call sign:
Nan - William - Sugar - Peter

ex-USS PC-656

SC-656 served both the U. S. Navy and Coast Guard.

SC-497 Class Submarine Chaser:

  • Laid down 6 December 1941 by Snow Shipyards, Inc., Rockland, ME
  • Launched 2 May 1942
  • Delivered 11 August 1942 and commissioned USS PC-656
  • Reclassified USS SC-656 in April 1943
  • Transferred to the Coast Guard 17 January 1946 and commissioned USCGC Air Finch (WAVR 422)
  • Struck from the Naval Register 7 February 1946
  • Sold 23 January 1948
  • Fate unknown.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 92 t.
  • Length 110' 10"
  • Beam 17' 9"
  • Draft 6' 6"
  • Speed 21 kts.
  • Complement 28
  • Armament: One 40mm gun mount, two .50 cal. machine guns, two depth charge projector "Y Guns," and two depth charge tracks
  • Propulsion: Two 1,540bhp General Motors (Electro-Motive Div.) 16-184A diesel engines, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    SC-497 161k Exploded view of SC-497 class Subchaser. © 1997 Theodore R. Treadwell
    There is no DANFS history available for SC-656
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