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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Buttress (ACM 4)



Buttress call sign:
Nan - Baker - Sugar - King

ex-PCE-878



PCE-878 call sign:
Nan - Zebra - Nan - Nan
PCE-842 Class Patrol Craft Escort/Buttress Class Auxiliary Minelayer:

  • Originally planned as PC-878 but reclassified as PCE-878 in April 1943
  • Laid down 11 May 1943 by Albina Engine and Machine Works, Portland, Oregon
  • Launched 26 August 1943
  • Delivered and commissioned USS PCE-878, 13 March 1944
  • Converted to an Auxiliary Minelayer, ACM-4, 27 March - 26 April 1944 at Mare Island Naval Shipyard
  • Reclassified and named Buttress (ACM 4), 15 June 1944
  • Decommissioned 24 February 1947 at Bremerton, WA
  • Struck from the Navy list 5 March 1947
  • Acquired in 1952 by the Pacific Reefer Fisheries of Tacoma, WA and renamed Pacific Reefer
  • Acquired in 1967 by Roy D. Furfiord of Seattle, WA and renamed Aleutian Fjord
  • Acquired in 1975 by the Greyhound Leasing and Financial Corp. of Chicago, IL and operated of Seattle
  • Acquired in 1977 by the Trident Seafoods Corp. of Seattle and renamed Mr. J and used as a crab processor at Akutan Harbor in the ALeutian Islands
  • Acquired in 1989 by I. D. Logan of Bothell, WA
  • Towed out to sea sometime in the 1990s and sunk.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 850 t.
  • Length 184' 6"
  • Beam 33'
  • Draft 9' 5"
  • Speed 15.7 kts.
  • Complement 102
  • Armament: One 3"/50 dual purpose mount
  • Propulsion: Two 900bhp General Motors Electro-Motive 12-567A diesel engines, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    USS PCE-878
    PCER-878 62k Broadside view of PCE-878 at Mare Island Naval Shipyard on 27 March 1944. The sternwheeler house boat YHB-2 can be seen on the left in the background
    U.S. Navy photo 1973-44    		 Darryl L. Baker
    PCER-878 84k PCE-878 has just arrived at Mare Island Naval Shipyard on 27 March 1944. She was in overhaul at the shipyard from 27 March to 26 April 1944
    U.S. Navy photo 1974-44
    PCER-878 179k 27 March 1944
    Aft plan view of PCE-878 prior to her conversion to USS Buttress (ACM 4) at Mare Island
    U.S. Navy photo 1975-44
    PCER-878 181k Amidships looking forward plan view of PCE-878 prior to her conversion to USS Buttress (ACM 4) at Mare Island
    U.S. Navy photo 1976-44
    Buttress 174k Forward plan view of PCE-878 during her conversion to USS Buttress (ACM 4) at Mare Island on 25 April 1944. Freight Lighter YF-508 can be seen in the background
    U.S. Navy photo 2532-44
    Buttress 232k Aft plan view of PCE-878 during her conversion to USS Buttress (ACM 4) at Mare Island on 25 April 1944. Housing barge YHB-21 (ex-Tamalpais - Steam side wheeler) can be seen
    in the background
    U.S. Navy photo 2533-44
    USS Buttress (ACM 4)
    Buttress 75k c. 1945
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 79738 from Shipscribe.com    		 Robert Hurst
    Commanding Officers
    01LT Blake H. Beatty, Jr., USNR3 March 1944
    02LT Kenneth Francis Xavier Smith, USN - USNA Class of 194410 June 1946 - 10 January 1947
    Courtesy of Joe Radigan and Wolfgang Hechler
    View the Buttress (ACM 4)
    DANFS history entry located on the Naval History and Heritage Command website
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