__NOTOC__
The ''SC-497''-class submarine chasers were a class of 438
submarine chaser
A submarine chaser or subchaser is a small naval vessel that is specifically intended for anti-submarine warfare. Many of the American submarine chasers used in World War I found their way to Allied nations by way of Lend-Lease in World War II.
...
s built primarily for the
United States Navy from 1941–1944.
The ''SC-497''s were based on the experimental submarine chaser, USS ''SC-453''. Submarine chasers of this variety were collectively nicknamed "
the splinter fleet" due to their wooden hulls.
History
The ''SC-497''s were off-shore patrol and anti-submarine warfare vessels. Seventy of the ''SC-497''s were converted into patrol control crafts (SCC), 18 were converted into coastal minesweepers (AMC), and 8 were converted into patrol gunboats, motor (PGM).
Sixteen ''SC-497''s were lost and another one was lost after her conversion into a .
Despite the large number of ''SC-497''s, none are credited with destroying an enemy ship. (USS ''SC-669'' is sometimes incorrectly credited with sinking the Japanese submarine ''RO-107'' on 29 May 1943,
but ''RO-107'' was still active on 6 July 1943.
)
During
World War II, 142 ''SC-497''-class submarine chasers were lent to allies of the United States as part of the
Lend-Lease
Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (), was a policy under which the United States supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and other Allied nations with food, oil, ...
program. Seventy-eight were sent to the Soviet Union, 50 to France, 8 to Brazil, 3 to Norway, and 3 to Mexico.
The three Norwegian examples served with distinction on the
Shetland bus service, running agents, refugees and weapons past the German blockade between occupied Norway and Britain.
Survivors
(ex-USS ''SC-718'') is preserved at the Royal Norwegian Navy Museum. Some remains of (ex-USS ''SC-683'') and (ex-USS ''SC-1061'') can be seen near the coast of Sweden.
USS SC 772 is a liveaboard vessel in Scappoose Oregon in the Multnomah Slough near Sauvie Island.
See also
*
*
*
List of patrol vessels of the United States Navy
References
{{SC-497 class submarine chaser