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N7KTP > NAVNET 24.07.04 07:04l 58 Lines 3362 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 65009_N7WE
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Subj: USS PC-1225
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Sent: 040722/2226Z @:N7WE.#WWA.WA.USA.NA #:65009 [Bremerton] $:65009_N7WE
From: N7KTP@N7WE.#WWA.WA.USA.NA
To : NAVNET@USA
Submarine Chaser PC-1225 was control ship at Omaha Beach
By FRED MILES WATSON - Managing Editor – Northwest Navigator
A PC-461 Class Submarine Chaser, USS PC-1225 was built at Leathem
D. Smith Shipbuilding Co., Sturgeon Bay, Wis. She was commissioned on
Jan. 12, 1943 at New Orleans with Lt. A. J. McCrudden, USNR, as her
first commanding officer.
Displacing a modest 280-tons, PC-1225 was 174 feet in length and
had a draw of 10 feet,10-inches. With a top speed of 20 knots, 65
Sailors served in PC-1225. As a submarine chaser she was outfitted with
one, 3-inch gunmount, one, 40mm antiaircraftgun, two mousetrap depth
charge projectors and two depth charge tubes.
Following shakedown in the Gulf of Mexico early in 1943, she
guarded convoys on the New York to Guantanamo Bay run. That duty lasted
until early January of 1944 when she sailed for Great Britain to begin
preparations for the invasion of Normandy, set for June. She spent the
time in between operating along the southern coast of England
patrolling and practicing for the invasion.
During the June 6, assault, PC-1225 anchored two miles off Omaha
beach and served as an amphibious control ship helping guide the
landing craft to their designated beaches. After D-day, she began
escorting cross-channel troop and supply convoys and conducted patrols
off the French ports of Le Havre, Cherbourg, Granville, and St. Malo.
While performing that duty, she participated in two rescue operations.
On July 2, 1944, SS Empire Broadsword struck an air-dropped mine; and
PC-1225 picked up 70 survivors from the wreck. On Christmas Eve Day
1944-she screened rescuers as they picked up survivors from SS
Leopoldville, a British troopship torpedoed near Cherbourg.
For the first months of 1945, she patrolled near the still-
occupied Channel Islands and, on one occasion, drew fire from the
German garrison isolated on Guernsey. In May, after the Germans had
surrendered, the subchaser was part of the contingent which reoccupied
the Channel Islands for the Allies.
She participated in a naval gun salute at Omaha beach on the first
anniversary of D-day, on June 6, 1945, and later that day departed
European waters sailing for the United States. Steaming by the way of
the Azores and Bermuda, the ship arrived in Key West on June 21. She
soon began repairs at Charleston, S.C., in preparation for her
scheduled reassignment to the Pacific theater. However, the end of the
war with Japan caught her still undergoing repairs at Charleston.
On Sept. 10, the ship received instructions to air-sea rescue duty
with the Atlantic Fleet. On the 30th, she arrived in Argentia,
Newfoundland, to begin that assignment. Early in 1946, she served
briefly with the Operational Development Force before reporting in
April for her preinactivation overhaul. PC-1225 was placed out of
commission on July 18, 1946 and was berthed at Green Cove Springs, Fla.
She remained there for more than a decade.
In mid-February 1956, she was named Waverly, but carried that name
only briefly. On Sept. 5, 1957, her name was struck from the Navy list
and she was sold for scrapping to F &A Transportation of New Jersey on
July 1, 1958.
PC-1225 was awarded one battle star for her World War II service.
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