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NavSource Online: Patrol Craft Escort
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Marfa (PCE 842)
ex-PCE(R)-842
ex-PCE-842



Call sign:
November - Uniform - Victor - Quebec

ex-PCE(R)-842
ex-PC-842


Marfa served the Navies of the United States and South Korea.
PCE-842 Class Patrol Craft Escort:

  • Originally planned as PC-842 but reclassified as a Patrol Craft Escort (Rescue), PCE(R)-842
  • Reclassified as a Patrol Craft Escort, PCE-842, 28 March 1943
  • Laid down 12 June 1943 by the Pullman Standard Car Manufacturing Co., Chicago, Illinois
  • Reclassified back to PCE(R)-842, 19 June 1943
  • Reclassified back to PCE-842, 15 July 1943
  • Launched 14 November 1943
  • Commissioned USS PCE-842, 29 January 1944 at New Orleans, Louisiana
  • Placed in service in August 1947 as a Naval Reserve Training vessel assigned to the 8th Naval District (New Orleans)
  • Decommissioned 7 November 1947 at New Orleans
  • Placed out of service 17 August 1955 at Green Cove Springs, Florida and laid up in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet, Florida Group
  • Named Marfa 15 February 1956
  • Struck from the Naval Register 1 June 1961
  • Transferred to South Korea 18 December 1961 under the Military Assistance Program and renamed Tang Po (PCE-56)
  • Sunk by North Korean shore battery fire north of the demarcation line 19 January 1967.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 640 t.
  • Length 180' 6"
  • Beam 33'
  • Draft 9' 8"
  • Speed 15 kts.
  • Complement 100
  • Armament: One 3"/50 dual purpose mount, three 40mm mounts, five 20mm mounts, two depth charge tracks, four depth charge projectors, and two depth charge projectors (hedgehogs)
  • Propulsion: Two 900bhp General Motors 12-567A diesel engines, Falk single reduction gear, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    PCE-842 73k Rudi Keil
    PCE-842 85k 6 September 1945
    Victoria Labuan, British North Borneo
    Troops boarding PCE-842 at Liberty Wharf. The ship is part of a convoy for occupation of Kuching, Borneo and repatriation of British and American prisoners of war
    Australian War Memorial Photo 118652    		 Mike Green
    PCE-842 71k 9 September 1945
    Looking forward from the fantail. The ship is carrying troops of the Kuching, Borneo reoccupation force
    Australian War Memorial Photo 118653
    Commanding Officers
    01LT George C. Homans, USNR29 January 1944 - 22 August 1944
    02LT William W. Smyth, USNR22 August 1944 - June 1945
    03LT Henry R. Wiesner, USNRJune 1945 - August 1945
    04LT James M. Newmyer, USNRAugust 1945 - December 1945
    05LT Joseph F. Blanton, USNRDecember 1945 - March 1946
    06LTJG Thomas L. Fore, Jr., USNRMarch 1946 - June 1946
    07LTJG Dan H. Vaught, USNRJune 1946
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler
    View the Marfa (PCE-842)
    DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Website
    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 Index Back to the Patrol Craft Escort (PCE) Photo Index
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    This page created by Gary P. Priolo and maintained by Tom Bateman
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