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Submarine Chaser Photo Archive

Weatherford (EPC-618)
ex-PC-618



Call sign:
November - Uniform - Yankee - Whiskey
PC-461 Class Submarine Chaser:

  • Laid down 29 April 1942 at George Lawley and Sons, Inc., Neponset, Massachusetts
  • Launched 1 August 1942
  • Commissioned USS PC-618, 7 September 1942
  • Reclassified as an Experimental Submarine Chaser, EPC-618 in April 1947
  • Named Weatherford 15 February 1956
  • Decommissioned and struck from the Navy Register 1 November 1965
  • Sunk as a target 1 November 1968
  • Weatherford was the longest serving PC in the United States Navy.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 450 t.
  • Length 173' 8"
  • Beam 23'
  • Draft 10' 10"
  • Speed 20.2 kts.
  • Complement 65
  • Armament: One 3"/50 dual purpose gun mount (Later replaced by a Hedgehog depth charge projector), one 40mm gun mount, three 20mm guns, two depth charge projectors and two depth charge tracks
  • Propulsion: Two 2,880bhp Fairbanks-Morse 38D8 1/8 diesel engines (Serial No. 832371 & 832372), Westinghouse single reduction gear, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    USS Weatherford (EPC 618)
    Weatherford 185k U.S. Navy photo from the July 1956 edition of All Hands magazine Joe Radigan
    Weatherford 189k U.S. Navy photo from the August 1960 edition of All Hands magazine
    Weatherford 611k c. April 1961
    Photo from U.S. Small Combatants: An Illustrated Design History, by Norman Friedman    		 Original photo: Bob Daly/PC-1181
    Replacement photo: Robert Hurst
    Weatherford 76k c. 1961
    U.S. Navy photo from the from 1961/1962 edition of "Jane's Fighting Ships"    		 Robert Hurst
    Weatherford 70k c. March 1962
    Naval Annex Key West, FL
    Weatherford (EPC 618) off the bow of the USS Brough (DE 148). Ship off the port bow is the USS Howard D. Crow (DE 252)    		 Fred Weiss
    ex-Weatherford
    Weatherford 88k c. 1967
    USS Shakori (ATF 162) sprays water on the ex-Weatherford, being used as a salvage training hulk
    U.S. Navy photo from the March 1967 edition of All Hands magazine.    		 Bob Daly/PC-1181
    Commanding Officers
    01LT John W. Stewart, USNR7 September 1942 - July 1943
    02LT Isaac B. Merriman, Jr., USNRJuly 1943 - March 1944
    03LT Eugene William Stetson, Jr., USNRMarch 1944 - 15 August 1944
    04LTJG George Winchester Percy, Jr., USNR15 August 1944 - 7 February 1945
    05LTJG Floyd E. Brower, USNR7 February 1945 - 27 February 1945
    06LTJG Thomas W. Menefee, Jr., USNR27 February 1945 - 12 November 1945
    07LTJG Harold Harland Hueter, USNR12 November 1945 - 26 January 1946
    08LTJG Thomas O. Matia, USNR26 January 1946 - 1946
    09LTJG Bernard J. Ward, USNR1946
    10LTJG Joseph Stanislaus Buggy, Jr., USN1960
    ??LT David McLeod Greathouse, USN - USNA Class of 1951
    Retired as Commander
    ??LT Alfred Paul Amoruso, USN - USNA Class of 1954
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler and Joe Radigan
    View the Weatherford (EPC-618)
    DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Website
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    Patrol Craft Sailors Association
    Back To The Main Photo Index Back To the Patrol Craft/Gunboat/Submarine Chaser Ship Index Back to the Submarine Chaser (PC) Photo Index
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