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Gunboat Photo Archive

Action (PG 86)
ex-Comfrey (K 277)
ex-CN-304



Action call sign:
November - Zulu - Bravo - Charlie
British Flower Class Corvette/Action Class Patrol Gunboat:

  • Laid down 6 January 1942 as CN-304 by the Collingwood Shipyard, Collingwood, Ontario, Canada
  • Named HMS Comfrey (K 277)
  • Launched 28 July 1942
  • Renamed Action 13 August 1942
  • Acquired by the U.S. Navy 21 November 1942
  • Commissioned USS Action (PG-86), 22 November 1942
  • Decommissioned 6 September 1945 at Charleston, SC
  • Struck from the Navy list 17 September 1945
  • Transferred to the Maritime Commission in October 1946
  • Sold and and converted to a whale-catcher in 1949
  • Sold in 1952 to J. Presthus of Bergen, Norway
  • Converted to a cargo vessel and renamed Arne Presthus
  • Fate unknown.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 1375 t.
  • Length 205'
  • Beam 33'
  • Draft 14' 7"
  • Speed 16.5 kts.
  • Complement 90
  • Armament: Two 3"/50 dual purpose mounts, two 20mm guns, two depth charge tracks, four depth charge projectors and one hedgehog depth charge projector
  • Propulsion: Two 3-drum express boilers, 2,750ihp vertical triple expansion Port Arthur Shipbuilding Co. engine, one shaft.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Flower Class Corvette 168k "Escort Vessel (Corvette) - (Flower Class) - With Extended Forecastle, Increased Sheer, & Fuller Lines Fwd."
    U.S. Navy preliminary design plan, copied from Smith Dock Co., Ltd., Drawing No. 232. This plan, dated April 1941, is for a modification of the British "Flower" class corvette. Scale of the original drawing is not given, but appears to be 1/16" = 1'.
    The original plan is in the 1939-1944 "Spring Styles Book" held by the Naval Historical Center.
    U.S. Navy photo S-511-30    		 Naval Historical Center
    Commanding Officers
    01LT Kendall Read, USN22 November 1942 - 14 June 1943
    02LCDR Ralph David Dean, USCG14 June 1943 - 7 September 1945
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves and Joe Radigan
    View the Action (PG 86)
    DANFS history entry located on the Naval History and Heritage Command website
    Back To The Main Photo Index Back To the Patrol Craft/Gunboat/Submarine Chaser Ship Index Back to the Patrol Gunboat (PG) Photo Index
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    This page created by Gary P. Priolo and maintained by Tom Bateman
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