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NavSource Online:
Submarine Chaser Photo Archive

PC-551



Call sign:
Nan - Baker - Tare - Sugar


PC-551 served the Navies of the United States and France.
PC-461 Class Submarine Chaser:

  • Laid down 22 July 1941 by the Leathem D. Smith Shipbuilding Co., Sturgeon Bay, WI
  • Launched 12 April 1942
  • Commissioned USS PC-551, 15 May 1942
  • During World War II, PC-551 was assigned to the European theater and participated in the following operations:
    Sicilian occupation, 9 - 15 July 1943
    Salerno landings, 9 - 12 September 1943
    Anzio-Nettuno advanced landings, 22 - 28 January, 15 February - 1 March 1944, and
    The Invasion of Southern France, 15 August - 25 September 1944
  • Decommissioned 19 October 1944 at Toulon, France, transferred to the French and named Mameluck (W 113)
  • Reclassified P-614 in 1952
  • Struck from the Navy Register 2 January 1958, condemned and scrapped later in the year
  • PC-551 earned five battle stars for World War II service.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 280 t.(lt), 450 t.(fl)
  • Length 173' 8"
  • Beam 23'
  • Draft 10' 10"
  • Speed 20.2 kts.
  • Complement 65
  • Armament: One 3"/50 dual purpose gun mount, one 40mm gun mount, three 20mm guns, two rocket launchers, four depth charge projectors, and two depth charge tracks
  • Propulsion: Two 1,440bhp General Motors 16-258S diesel engines (Serial No. 6323 and 6324), Farrel-Birmingham single reduction gear, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    USS PC-551
    PC-551 87k Photo from the 5 December 1942 edition of the "Miami Herald," Miami, Florida
    		 J. C. Presley, PC-1226, QM2/c
    via E. J. Comeau, PC 553/1228
    PC-551 122k c. February 1943
    Photo by Bernard Hoffman from the Life Magazine Archives    		 Joe Radigan
    PC-551 103k c. 1943
    Shown underway and operating at a patrol vessel crews training facility
    Photo by Bernard Hoffman from the Life Magazine Archives    		 John Chiquoine
    Photo added 16 September 2019
    PC-551 33k c. 1943
    Depth charge attack on German U-Boat.
    Mameluck (P 614)
    PC-551 49k Robert Hurst
    PC-551 35k
    PC-551 80k c. 1952
    Sidi Abdallah, Morocco
    In Dry Dock No. 3
    Courtesy of Georges Chevallier
    PC-551 63k 26 September 1952
    There is no DANFS History currently available for PC-551
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    Patrol Craft Sailors Association
    Back To The Main Photo Index Back To the Patrol Craft/Gunboat/Submarine Chaser Ship Type Index Back to the Submarine Chaser (PC) Photo Index
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    This page created by Gary P. Priolo and maintained by Tom Bateman
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