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Submarine Chaser Photo Archive

USCGC Air Owl (WAVR 441)
ex-USS SC-988



Call sign:
Nan - Charlie - Love - Fox

ex-PC-988


SC-988 served both the U. S. Navy and U. S. Coast Guard
SC-497 Class Submarine Chaser:

  • Laid down 7 November 1942 as PC-988 by John E. Matton and Sons, Inc., Cohoes, NY
  • Reclassified SC-988 in April 1943
  • Launched 1 June 1943
  • Commissioned USS SC-988, 14 July 1943 under the command of LTJG Owen P. Merrill, USNR
  • Decommissioned 18 August 1945
  • Transferred to the Coast Guard 11 October 1945 and commissioned USS Air Owl (WAVR 441)
  • Sold 27 February 1948
  • Acquired in 1954 by Herbert F. Frederick of Covington, LA for use as a freighter and named Sea Swan
  • Operated in 1956 under the Costa Rican flag
  • Fate unknown.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 111 t.
  • Length 110' 10"
  • Beam 17'
  • 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-988 236k National Archives photo 80-G-208032 Dan Treadwell
    There is no DANFS history available for SC-988
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