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Submarine Chaser Photo Archive

USCGC Air Avocet (WAVR 411)
ex-USS SC-453
ex-PC-453



Call sign:
Nan - Easy - How - Queen

SC-453 served both the U. S. Navy and Coast Guard.


SC-453 served the Navies of the United States and the Republic of Haiti Coast Guard.
Experimental Model Submarine Chaser:

  • Laid down 24 September 1940 as PC-453 by the Fisher Boat Works, Detroit, MI
  • Launched 3 May 1941
  • Delivered and commissioned USS PC-453, 12 August 1941
  • Raising the Ensign on this chaser at Detroit marked the first formal commissioning of a line vessel on the Great Lakes since Commodore Oliver Perry built his wood fleet on Lake Erie in 1812
  • PC-453 was one of three Submarine Chasers built in a design competition. Built as a modern adaptation of the original SC-1 design of World War I. After tests, the PC-453 design became the
    prototype for the World War II wooden submarine chaser
  • Reclassified SC-453, 8 April 1943
  • Transferred to the Coast Guard 20 November 1945 and commissioned USCGC Air Avocet (WAVR 411)
  • Transferred to the Haitian Coast Guard in 1947 and renamed 16 Aout 1946 (GC 2)
  • Laid up in poor condition, placed up for sale and sold in 1957
  • Fate unknown.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 134 t.
  • Length 111' 5"
  • Beam 16' 9"
  • Draft 6' 4"
  • Speed 21 kts.
  • Armament: One 40mm mount
  • Propulsion: Two 770bhp General Motors (Electro-Motive Div.) 16-184A diesel engines (This was the first SC to have this model diesel installed), two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    SC-453 129k 26 September 1940
    Photos by Bob Heller
    National Archives photos    		 Dan Treadwell
    SC-453 208k
    SC-453 125k 30 September 1940
    Photo by Bob Heller
    National Archives photo
    SC-453 171k 8 October 1940
    Photo by Bob Heller
    National Archives photo
    SC-453 133k 7 November 1940
    Photos by Bob Heller
    National Archives photos
    SC-453 135k
    SC-453 125k Photo by Bob Heller
    National Archives photo
    SC-453 152k The builders
    Photo by Bob Heller
    National Archives photo
    SC-453 99k Photos by Bob Heller
    National Archives photos
    SC-453 164k
    SC-453 192k
    SC-453 131k Wheelhouse
    Photo by Bob Heller
    National Archives photo
    SC-453 93k Officers Quarters
    Photos by Bob Heller
    National Archives photos
    SC-453 112k
    SC-453 136k Crews Quarters, looking forward
    Photo by Bob Heller
    National Archives photo
    SC-453 138k Crews Quarters, looking aft
    Photo by Bob Heller
    National Archives photo
    SC-453 105k Crews Quarters/Mess room
    Photo by Bob Heller
    National Archives photo
    SC-453 179k c. 1940
    U.S. Navy photo    		 Original photo: Lillian E. Stump Lockhart via Victoria Bivens
    1st Replacement photo: Ron Titus
    2nd Replacement photo: J. C. Pinkerton
    SC-453 236k >Purchased in an antique store in Madison, Indiana
    Oil on canvas painting by H. J. Thrasher, 1943    		 Robert Turner
    Photo added 23 December 2019
    SC-453 218k . Original photo: Bob Daly/PC-1181
    Replacement photo: J. C. Pinkerton
    SC-453 190k Historical Collections of the Great Lakes
    SC-453 239k Photo caption: "The new lightweight pancake engine developed by GM and produced by the Electro-Motive Division is believed to be the lightest ocean-duty diesel engine in the world." J. C. Pinkerton
    SC-453 192k Cutaway view of the General Motors 16-184A diesel engine
    Commanding Officers
    01LTJG Claude S. Kirkpatrick, USNR12 August 1941 - March 1942
    02LT Park A. Dallis, Jr., USNRMarch 1942 - July 1942
    03LT Arnold L. Goldstein, USNRJuly 1942 - March 1943
    04LTJG Stephen Whitcomb, USNRMarch 1943 - September 1943
    05LTJG John M. Fisher, Jr., USNRSeptember 1943 - June 1944
    06LTJG Leonard R. Posner, USNRJune 1944 - September 1945
    07LTJG Raymond H. Sheen, USNRSeptember 1945 - 20 NOvember 1945
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler
    There is no DANFS History currently available for SC-453
    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 110' Submarine Chaser (SC) Photo Index
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