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Submarine Chaser Photo Archive

USCGC Air Tern (WAVR 474)
ex-USS SC-1355



Call sign:
Nan - Tare - Nan - Fox

ex-PC-1355


SC-1355 served both the U. S. Navy and Coast Guard.
SC-497 Class Submarine Chaser:

  • Laid down 14 November 1942 as PC-1355 by the Luders Marine Construction Co., Stamford, CT
  • Reclassified SC-1355 and launched 12 April 1943
  • Commissioned USS SC-1355, 10 July 1943
  • Transferred to the Coast Guard 11 October 1945
  • Commissioned USCGC Air Tern (WAVR 474), 30 October 1945
  • Struck from the Naval Register 16 November 1945
  • Sold 19 September 1947
  • Sold in 1949 to W & W Fishing Enterprises, Inc. (Phil Wright and Sid Wilsey) of Levitown, NY and renamed Chief
  • Later sold to Harold Wrege and John and Joe Ecock
  • Resold in 1981 and operated out of Baltimore, MD as the tour boat Mount Independence
  • Fate unknown.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 105 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
    FV Chief
    SC-1355 70k c. 1955
    Chief    		 Mel's Place
    SC-1355 74k c. 1962
    Chief
    Tour Boat Mount Independence
    SC-1355 252k 26 August 2015
    Dundalk, MD    		 Tom Nutt
    There is no DANFS history available for SC-1355
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