USS ''Castine'' (IX-211), formally ''PC-452'', was a submarine chaser of the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

. ''PC-452'' was laid down on 14 March 1940 at the DeFoe Boat and Motor Works in

Bay City, Michigan Bay City is a city in Bay County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. The population was 32,661 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The city is located just upriver from the Saginaw Bay on the Saginaw River. It is the princip ...

, as Hull #167, under the Experimental Small Craft program of 17 May 1938. She was launched on 23 August 1941 and towed to the Philadelphia Navy Yard to be fitted out with boilers, and commissioned as USS ''PC-452'' on 1 May 1944. ''PC-452'' was to be used as a steam

turbine A turbine ( or ) (from the Greek , ''tyrbē'', or Latin ''turbo'', meaning vortex) is a rotary mechanical device that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into useful work. The work produced can be used for generating electrical ...

test bed hull, while ''PC-451'', also an experimental ship built at Defoe, used diesel electric drive. Originally called "X-Boats," they differed in detail and were listed as 165 footers, even though they were 173 feet long. ''PC-452'' was reclassified as an Unclassified Miscellaneous Auxiliary and assigned the hull number, "IX-211". She was then renamed ''Castine'' after the

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

on 10 March 1945. ''Castine'' was decommissioned on 3 October 1945; struck from the Naval Register, and transferred to the

Maritime Commission The United States Maritime Commission was an independent executive agency of the U.S. federal government that was created by the Merchant Marine Act of 1936, which was passed by Congress on June 29, 1936, and was abolished on May 24, 1950. The c ...

for disposal in January 1947. Her ultimate fate is unknown. PC-452's executive officer, Lt.(j.g.) John W. Hazard, wrote an article for ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'' recounting the steam propulsion experiments that became the basis for the 1951 comedy film '' You're in the Navy Now''.

References

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- Image gallery of ''Castine'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Castine (IX-211) Submarine chasers of the United States Navy Ships built in Bay City, Michigan 1941 ships