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NavSource Online: Patrol Craft Sweeper
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Dutton (AGSC 8)
ex-AGS-8
ex-PCS-1396

Call sign:
Nan - Tare - Roger - William

ex-PC-1396

PCS-1376 Class Patrol Craft Sweeper:

Laid down as PC-1396 by the South Coast Co., Newport Beach, CA

Reclassified PCS-1396 in April 1943

Launched 7 August 1943

Commissioned USS PCS-1396, 29 March 1944

Reclassified as a Hydrographic Survey Ship, AGS-8, 20 March 1945

Named Dutton 24 March 1945

Damaged off Okinawa 27 May 1945 by a Japanese Kamikaze at 26° 00' N., 128° 00' E.

Reclassified as a Coastal Surveying Ship, AGSC-8, 29 July 1946

Decommissioned 26 August 1949 at New York

Acquired in 1954 by Ocean Fisheries, Inc. of Glen Ridge, NJ and renamed Ocean Spray

Acquired in 1957 by Tarpon, Inc. of Reedville, VA

Acquired in 1959 by the Fishing Vessel Tarpon, Inc. of Reedville and renamed Tarpon Acquired in 1968 by Haynie Products, Inc. of Reedville

Acquired in 1975 by the Atlantic Towing Corp. of Norfolk, VA and renamed Atlantic II

Acquired in 1976 by Shore Sea Products, Inc. of Atlantic, VA and renamed Sea Harvester III

Reacquired in 1978 by the Atlantic Towing Co. and renamed Hustler

Acquired in 1980 by Ocean Cargo and Salvage, Inc. of Norfolk

Out of documentation in 1982

Fate unknown.

Specifications:

Displacement 245 t.(lt) 338 t.(fl)

Length 136'

Beam 24' 6"

Draft 8' 7"

Speed 14.1 kts.

Complement 57

Armament: One 3"/50 dual purpose mount, one single 40mm gun mount, two 20mm gun mounts, four depth charge projectors, one depth charge projector (hedgehog) and two depth charge tracks

Propulsion: Two 800bhp General Motors 8-268A diesel engine, Snow and Knobstedt single reduction gear, two shafts.

Click on thumbnail for full size image	Size	Image Description	Source
	65k	Namesake: *Benjamin Dutton, Jr.* was born in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, on 3 April 1883. He was appointed to the Naval Academy from the 26th District of Pennsylvania in 1901. He graduated in 1905 and was assigned to USS Dixie. He was attached to USS Scorpion until 1907, after which he made the round the world cruise with the Battle Fleet on USS Kentucky. He served on USS Tennessee until June 1911, and the next month became an instructor at the Naval Academy, where he remained for two years. During 1913 and 1914 he was First Lieutenant on board USS Kansas, which operated off the east coast of Mexico. He was transferred to USS Machias in 1915 and served as her executive officer and navigator until he was again assigned to the Naval Academy for duty until 1916. In March 1918 he was ordered to USS New Mexico and in August 1918 reported as executive officer of USS Pueblo, which was engaged in convoy service before the Armistice and later returned troops from France. He was executive officer of the ex-German battleship Osfriesland, which was placed in commission early in 1920 at Rosyth, Scotland, and brought to the United States with the ex-German light cruiser Frankfurt in tow. He was Aide and flag Secretary to Admiral Hilary P. Jones, Commander in Chief United States Fleet in 1922 and in 1923 was ordered to the Naval Academy where he served as executive officer in the Department of Navigation and later as head of the Department of Electrical Engineering. He was the author of Navigation and Nautical Astronomy used as a textbook at the Naval Academy and in the merchant marine. He commanded USS Nokomis, engaged in surveying the northern coast of Cuba and was a member of the staff of the Naval War College after completing the Senior Course. From 1931 to 1933 he was in command of USS Wyoming and until 1935 was assigned to the Bureau of Navigation. He became Naval Attaché at Berlin, Germany in May 1935, with additional duty at Oslo, Norway; Copenhagen, Denmark; Stockholm, Sweden; The Hague, the Netherlands; and, after 1935, at Helsingfor, Finland. He returned to the United States in April 1937 and on 10 June of that year assumed command of USS Portland. Captain Dutton died suddenly on 30 November 1937 at Southgate, California Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 92731	Bill Gonyo
	123k	Dutton (AGS 8)	Terry D. Gann
	80k	Photographed in 1945. The 3"/50 gun forward and the large hull number was typical of ships operating in the western Pacific in 1945 Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 84644 from Shipscribe.com	Robert Hurst
100311804	139k	U.S. Navy ships during operations off Iwo Jima, 20 February 1945. In the middle is the attack transport *USS Hendry* (APA-118). In the background is an amphibious command ship, probably USS Eldorado (AGC-11), and other transports; in front is PCS-1396 directing landing craft. Hendry is painted in Camouflage Measure 32, Design 4T, Eldorado in 32/8F. The photo was taken from the seaplane tender USS Hamlin (AV-15)**. U.S. Nation Archives Photo # 80-G-311366, a U.S. Navy Bureau of Ships photo now in the collections of the U.S. National Archives.	Robert Hurst