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NavSource Online: Patrol Craft Escort
Photo Archive


Courtesy of Mike Smolinski

Brattleboro (EPCE[R] 852)
ex-EPCE(R)-852
ex-PCE(R)-852



Call sign:
November - Yankee - Foxtrot - Bravo

ex-PCE-852

Brattleboro served the Navies of the United States, South Vietnam and the Philippines


PCE(R)-848 Class Patrol Craft Escort (Rescue):

  • Originally planned as PCE-852 but reclassified PCE(R)-852 in June 1943
  • Laid down 28 October 1943 by the Pullman Standard Car Manufacturing Co., Chicago, IL
  • Launched 1 March 1944
  • Commissioned USS PCE(R)-852, 26 May 1944 at New Orleans, LA
  • Reclassified as an Experimental Patrol Craft Escort (Rescue), EPCE(R)-852 in 1946
  • Named Brattleboro 15 February 1956
  • Decommissioned 1 November 1965 at Philadelphia, PA and struck from the Navy list
  • Transferred to South Vietnam 11 July 1966 and renamed Ngoc Hoi (HQ-12)
  • Escaped to the Philippines in 1975 after the fall of South Vietnam
  • Renamed RPS Miguel Malvar (PS 19)
  • Decommissioned 10 December 2021.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 903 t.
  • Length 184' 6"
  • Beam 33' 1"
  • Draft 9' 5"
  • Speed 15.7 kts.
  • Complement 99
  • Armament: One 3"/50 dual purpose gun mount, two 40mm gun mounts, four 20mm mounts, four depth charge projectors, one Hedgehog and two depth charge tracks
  • Propulsion: Two 1,000bhp General Motors diesel engines (12-567A starboard engine and 12-567B port engine), Falk single reduction gear, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image
    Size Image Description Source
    USS EPCE[R]- 852
    PCER-852 433k Welcome Aboard pamphlet Ron Reeves
    PCER-852 60k Christmas Card Tommy Trampp
    PCER-852 89k 16 May 1953
    Armed Forces Day program
    USS Brattleboro (EPCE[R] 852)
    PCER-852 45k Robert Hurst
    PCER-852 108k Bob Goll
    PCER-852 143k U.S. Navy photo from the April 1958 edition of All Hands magazine Joe Radigan
    Brattleboro 177k Off New London, Connecticut, 26 May 1958
    Courtesy of William H. Davis, 1977
    U.S. Navy photo NH 85419
    Naval History and Heritage Command
    RVN Ngoc Hoi (HQ 12)
    Brattleboro 147k "Lt. Nguyen Cong Duyen raises the flag of the Republic of Viet Nam on the stern of the former U.S. Navy patrol craft, USS Brattleboro (EPCE[R]-852), docked at the Philadelphia Naval Base on 11 July 1966. The vessel was recommissioned in the Vietnamese Navy yesterday and renamed RVN Ngoc Hoi (HQ-12), to commemorate a famous battle against the Chinese on a hill by that name in 1789"
    Photo from the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, George D. McDowell Collection, No. SCRC 170
    Mike Green
    PCER-852 68k Robert Hurst
    PCER-852 187k c. 1971
    Vietnamese Navy photo
    RPS Miguel Malvar (PS 19)
    PCER-852 103k Seen here as RPS Miguel Malvar (PS 19)
    Brattleboro 503k 14 September 2011
    From the collection of Mike Baylon
    Edison Sy
    PCER-852 212k 7 July 2012
    Celebes Sea
    Miguel Malvar steams alongside the USCGC Waesche (WMSL-751) during a replenishment at sea approach (RASAP) training event. This event is part of Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) 2012 Philippines. CARAT is a series of bilateral military exercises between the U.S. Navy and the armed forces of Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. Timor Leste joined the exercise for the first time in 2012
    U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Gregory A. Harden II
    Robert Hurst
    PCER-852 281k 8 July 2012
    Celebes Sea
    BRP Salvador Abcede (PG-114), Miguel Malvar, and BRP Ilollo (PS-32), ex-PCE-897; the coast guard ship PCG Pampanga (SARV-003); and USS Vandegrift (FFG-48) steam together, to mark the conclusion of the at-sea phase of Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) Philippines 2012. CARAT is a series of bilateral military exercises between the U.S. Navy and the armed forces of Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. Timor Leste joins the exercise for the first time
    in 2012
    U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Gregory A. Harden II
    PCER-852 287k 8 July 2012
    Celebes Sea
    BRP Iloilo (PS-32), the coast guard ship PCG Pampanga (SARV-003), Malvar, BRP Salvador Abcede (PG-114) and USCGC Waesche (WMSL-751) on a photo exercise (PHOTOEX). The event marks the conclusion of the at-sea phase of exercise Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) Philippines 2012. CARAT is a series of bilateral military exercises between the U.S. Navy and the armed forces of Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. Timor Leste joined the exercise for the first time
    in 2012
    U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class N. Ross Taylor
    Brattleboro 321k 1 May 2015
    Cebu, Philippines
    From the collection of Mike Baylon
    Edison Sy
    Gayety 89k 10 December 2021
    The Philippine Navy decommissions BRP Miguel Malvar (PS-19) and BRP Magat Salamat (PS-20), ex-Gayety (MSF 239) after being in the Philippine Navy service for 44 years
    Philippine Navy photo
    Tommy Trampp
    Photos added 20 February 2022
    Gayety 85k

    Commanding Officers
    01LT Henry J. Irwin, USNR - Awarded the Navy Cross (1945)26 May 1944
    02LT Donald R. Gustavson, USNRJune 1945 - December 1945
    03LT Ralph Anders Brackett, USNR (Later USN)December 1945 - 1948
    04LT Samuel Ewell Clark, USN1948
    05LT Philip Levin, USN - Awarded the Silver Star (1950)8 April 1953
    06LT John Holden Thorp, USNDecember 1956 - March 1958
    07LCDR Gerald Michael Carter, Jr., USN - USNA Class of 1954
    Awarded the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, the Defense Superior Service Medal, two Legion of Merits, the Bronze Star, two Meritorious Service Medals, the Joint Service Commendation Medal and the Navy Achievement Medal - Retired as Captain
    March 1958 - April 1959
    08LCDR Donald Eugene "Gene" Mosman, USNJune 1963 - November 1965
    Courtesy of Bill Gonyo, Joe Radigan and Wolfgang Hechler

    View the Brattleboro (EPCE[R] 852)
    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 Patrol Craft Escort (Rescue) - (PCE[R]) Photo Index

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