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NavSource Online: Patrol Craft Escort
Photo Archive

Skowhegan (PCE 843)
ex-PCE-843
ex-PCE(R)-843



Call sign:
November - Xray - Mike - Papa
PCE-842 Class Patrol Craft Escort:

  • Laid down as Patrol Craft Escort (Rescue), PCE(R)-843, 25 June 1943 by the Pullman Standard Car Manufacturing Co., Chicago IL
  • Reclassified as a Patrol Craft Escort, PCE-843
  • Launched 24 November 1943
  • Commissioned USS PCE-843, 3 February 1944 at New Orleans, LA
  • Placed in service as a Naval Reserve Training vessel in January 1947 and assigned to the 1st Naval District (Boston)
  • Decommissioned in March 1955 at Boston, MA and laid up in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet, Boston
  • Named Skowhegan 15 February 1956
  • Acquired in 1959 by Tropicana Products, Inc. of Bradenton, FL and renamed Miss Tropicana
  • Struck from the Naval Register in July 1960
  • Fate unknown.

    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
    USS PCE-843
    Skowhegan 308k From the collection of LTJG Wallace J. Reininger, USNR Tom Reininger
    Skowhegan 272k Bringing aboard stores from an LCVP
    From the collection of LTJG Wallace J. Reininger, USNR
    Skowhegan 291k A view of the forecastle
    From the collection of LTJG Wallace J. Reininger, USNR
    Skowhegan 319k From the collection of LTJG Wallace J. Reininger, USNR
    Skowhegan 348k c. 1946
    In dry dock
    Photo by Thompson Photo, Los Angeles
    From the collection of LTJG Wallace J. Reininger, USNR
    Skowhegan 836k Chart of PCE-843 travels
    Photo by Thompson Photo, Los Angeles
    From the collection of LTJG Wallace Jacob Reininger, USNR
    Skowhegan 226k In port following World War II
    Courtesy of William H. Davis, 1977
    U.S. Navy photo NH 85417    		 Naval History and Heritage Command
    Skowhegan (PCE 843)
    Skowhegan 73k c. 1959
    South Boston Naval Annex
    Skowhegan (PCE-843) outboard of Groton (PCE-900)    		 ©Richard Leonhardt
    Commanding Officers
    01LT Carleton H. Collar, USNR3 February 1944 - September 1944
    02LT William Kehr Gibson, USNRSeptember 1944 - 8 June 1945
    03LT John Irwin Keay, USNR8 June 1945 - 22 August 1945
    04LT John Bradford Stevens, USNR22 August 1945 - 1 November 1945
    05LT George Weston Watson, USNR1 November 1945 - 24 January 1946
    06LTJG Allen Storch, USNR24 January 1946 - 8 March 1946
    07LTJG Wallace Jacob Reininger, USNR8 March 1946 - 23 May 1946
    08LTJG William Bracken, USNR23 May 1946
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler
    View the Skowhegan (PCE-843)
    DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway 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 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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