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Submarine Chaser Photo Archive

USCGC Air Oriole (WAVR 440)
ex-USS SC-987



Call sign:
Nan - Charlie - King - William

ex-PC-987

SC-987 served both the U. S. Navy and Coast Guard.

SC-497 Class Submarine Chaser:

  • Laid down 15 June 1942 as PC-987 by John E. Matton and Sons Inc., Cohoes, NY
  • Reclassified SC-987 and launched 10 April 1943
  • Commissioned USS SC-987, 7 June 1943 under the command of LTJG John M. Wilson, USNR
  • Decommissioned 26 July 1945
  • Transferred to the Coast Guard 11 October 1945 and commissioned USCGC Air Oriole (WAVR 440)
  • Struck from the Naval Register 16 November 1945
  • Transferred back to the Navy and sold 26 January 1948
  • Acquired in 1951 by George L. Thompson of Wakefield, RI for use as a fishing boat and named Empress
  • Acquired in 1958 by the Bendiksen-Olsen Fishing Corp. of New Bedford, MA and renamed Lillian B.
  • Acquired in 1969 by the Oceanic Lobster Corp. of Greenwich, CT
  • Acquired in 1970 by Ruby Swindell Radford of Hobucken, NC
  • Acquired 12 September 1974 by William Robert Radford, Jr. upon the death of Ruby Radford
  • Acquired in 1977 by C. T. L., Inc. of Beaufort, NC and renamed C. T. L.
  • Acquired in 1978 by Ocean Products, Inc. of Beaufort
  • Out of documentation in 1985
  • Fate unknown.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 111 t.
  • Length 110' 10"
  • Beam 17'
  • Draft 6' 6"
  • Speed 21 kts.
  • Complement 28
  • Armament: One 40mm gun mount, two .50 cal. machine guns, two depth charge projector "Y Guns," and two depth charge tracks
  • Propulsion: Two 1,540bhp General Motors (Electro-Motive Div.) 16-184A diesel engines, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Air Oriole 64k c. October/November 1945
    Cockspur Island, Savannah, GA    		 Harry R. Skallerup
    Air Oriole 82k
    SC-987 102k c. January/May 1946
    Fernandina, FL
    There is no DANFS history available for SC-987
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