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Submarine Chaser Photo Archive

PC-461 Class Submarine Chaser.
Courtesy of William J. Veigele

Bluffton (PC 461)
ex-PC-461



Call sign:
Nan - Able - Dog - Mike
PC-461 Class Submarine Chasers:

  • Laid down 10 July 1941 by George Lawley and Sons, Inc., Neponset, Massachusetts
  • Launched 23 December 1941
  • Commissioned USS PC-461, 19 March 1942 at the Boston Navy Yard, Charlestown, MA
  • Decommissioned 15 August 1946 and laid up in the Reserve Fleet at Green Cove Springs, FL
    Naval Vessel Register of 1 January 1949 lists plan for decommissioning and placing in reserve as January 1947
  • Named Bluffton 15 February 1956
  • Struck from the Navy Register 5 September 1957
  • Sold 5 August 1958 to Ships and Power Inc. of Miami, FL for $72,000.00
  • Fate unknown.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 450 t.
  • Length 173' 8"
  • Beam 23'
  • Draft 10' 10"
  • Speed 20.2 kts.
  • Complement 65
  • Armament: One 3"/50 dual purpose gun mount, two 20mm mounts, two .50 cal. machine guns, two .30 cal. machine guns, two depth charge projectors, and two depth charge tracks
  • Propulsion: Two 1,440bhp Fairbanks Morse 38D8 1/8 diesel engines (Serial Nos. 832219 and 832220), Westinghouse single reduction gear, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    PC-461
    Bluffton 180k 23 December 1941
    Neponset, MA
    NEW TYPE SUB-CHASER LAUNCHED-The U.S.S. Navy sub-chaser PC-461, the first of this new type of steel constructed vessel to be launched in New England is shown as it hit the water at the George Lawley and Son Corporation yard. Mrs. Everett Paradise, recent bride of a Lawley workman, was sponsor.
    (AP Wirephoto) (pjc31850fox) 1941    		 David Wright
    USS PC-461
    Bluffton 176k Underway in a flurry of exhaust smoke, 1942
    National Archives photo 80-G-K-426    		 Mike Green
    Photo added 20 July 2020
    Bluffton 234k 1 October 1942
    Submarine Chaser Training Center Miami, FL
    National Archives photo    		 Dan Treadwell
    Bluffton 127k National Archives photo Original photo: William J. Veigele
    Replacement photo: Dan Treadwell
    Commanding Officers
    01LT Thomas Albert Peacock, USNR19 March 1942
    02LTJG Charles E. Camper, USNR1945
    ??LT William C. Schulenberg, Jr., USNR
    Courtesy Joe Radigan and Wolfgang Hechler
    View the Bluffton (PC 461)
    DANFS history entry located on the Naval History and Heritage Command website
    Additional Resources and Websites of Interest
    Patrol Craft Sailors Association
    Back to the Main Photo Index Back to the Patrol Craft/Gunboat/Submarine Chaser Ship Index Back to the Submarine Chaser (PC) Photo Index
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