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Submarine Chaser Photo Archive

SC-449



Call sign: November - Echo - Tango - November

Experimental Model Submarine Chaser: Laid down, 10 July 1939 by the Luders Marine Construction Co., Stamford, CT; Launched, 14 May 1940; Commissioned SC-449, 25 September 1940. SC-449 was one of three Submarine Chasers built in a design competition. In early 1945, she was selected by the Navy to be converted into a mock Escort Aircraft Carrier (CVE) to be used in the invasion of the Japanese homelands. Built as an experimental SC design she had 50% more stability than the production models that were built. Her deck was stripped and rebuilt with plywood to look like a CVE. The Navy liked what they saw but she was very top-heavy, so they shelved that idea, plus the atom bomb put an end to these plans. Decommissioned, (date unknown); Transferred to the Maritime Commission, sold and struck from the Naval Register 29 July 1949; Worked as an Oceanographic Research Vessel at Texas A&M Marine Department, (dates unknown); Sold, (date unknown) to Service Marine Inc., Galena, TX for use as quarters for dredge crews; Scrapped in 1974.

Specifications: Displacement 85 t; Length 110"; Beam 14' 9"; Draft 5' 8"; Speed 18 kts; Armament one single 3"/23 gun mount, two .30 cal. machine guns, one dcp "Y Gun"; Complement two officers, 25 enlisted; Propulsion two 1,200 bhp Cooper Bessemer EN-H diesel engines, two shafts.
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Size Image Description Source
SC-449 50k Showing designation PC-449" E. J. Comeau PC 553/1228
SC-449 75k c. 1941.
Showing designation PC-449"
US Navy Photo
Jane's Fighting Ships
SC-449 121k c. 1941
Post card of SC-449 showing hull designation "PC-449"
Richard Leonhardt
SC-449 110k Experimental anti submarine rocket set up on the SC-449. This was done at Key West in April of 1942. The system was designed by Dr.'s Schilchter and Lauretson of California Institute of Technology. It was the proto-type of the later Mouse Traps and Hedge Hog rockets. SCs carried one row of racks and the PC 's had two. The 30 lb. charge of TNT was carried in the war head with a contact detonator on top. The rocket charge was carried in the tail pipe. Most of the time they iginited but once in awhile they didn't. Then some poor sailor had to go forward, pick the rocket up and toss it over the side.
National Archives Photo 80-G-21905.
Bob Daly/PC-1181
SC-449 55k Bow of SC-449 at Key West on 16 April 1942. Note barrel of 3"/23 gun in forground.
National Archives Photo 80-G-21913.
Bob Daly/PC-1181
SC-449 115k SC-449 disguised as a CVE. c. 1945. Ted Treadwell
SC-449 186k An aerial view of SC-449 disguised as a CVE. c. 1945. Ted Treadwell

There is no DANFS History currently available for
SC-449.
Crew Contact And Reunion Information
U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation
Fleet Reserve Association

Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
Patrol Craft Sailors Association
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