Subchaser Hulls Still Afloat
Subchasers have virtually vanished. Only a handful of subchaser hulls have survived through the years and are still floating.
SC 718, “HITRA” in Bergen, Norway 1997
(photo by T.R. Treadwell III)
SC 718 still exists in Norway as a Norwegian Royal Navy vessel, the “Hitra.” During the war the U.S. loaned three American-built subchasers to occupied Norway under the lend-lease program and late in the war transferred ownership of the three vessels to Norway permanently. Throughout the war they were used in an operation called the “Shetlands Bus”, a ferrying service between Norway and the Shetlands Isles which, at high risk, transported secret agents and communications equipment into Norway to enable them to keep track of German navy movements all along the Norwegian coast. On return trips the subchasers would take key Norwegian personnel back to the Shetlands and to freedom. After the war the three subchasers eventually disappeared. But in 1981 the 718 named Hitra was accidentally discovered half sunk in a Swedish ship’s graveyard. A movement began to restore her and this was eventually done. Today the Hitra operates as a full fledged subchaser fitted out and equipped exactly as she was during the war, and used for exhibit, education, reunions, etc. Her ship’s bell still carries the faint engraving of “SC 718” as a reminder of her American roots. She is based in Bergen, Norway and is well worth visiting. For more information about the HITRA, look at The MTB’s.
SC 1372 is a luxury yacht named Cairdeas, moored at Orcas Island in the state of Washington and owned by David Baxter, a hands-on wooden boat builder and restorer. It is a beautiful ship, complete with captain’s quarters, a library, a dining salon, a main salon, five staterooms each with heads and shower, and crews quarters forward with six single bunks. She mounts a helipad on her afterdeck.
SC 1068, “Air Snipe”, in Alaska 2005
(photo by Robert Michaelson)
SC 1068 is alive and well in Ketchikan, Alaska. Transferred to the Coast Guard after the war and named Air Snipe, she was purchased by Kent Halverson who operates a fleet of tugboats in Alaskan waters. Air Snipe is Mr. Halverson’s pride and joy and is beautifully maintained.
SC 536 is now known as Moonlight Maid, owned and operated by Pat and Kelley Warga, a husband-wife team from Bainbridge I. Washington. Each year from March to September they take her to Valdez, Alaska where she is used in the fishing industry as a packer boat and tender. The Wargas keep Moonlight Maid in excellent working condition.
SC 1013. For many years after the war SC 1013, converted to the Mount Independence, was a familiar sight as a sightseeing and tour boat on Lake Champlain in upstate New York. In 1989 Bruce P. Keller of Baltimore purchased the Mount Independence, her topsides in poor condition but her hull still sound, and brought her to Baltimore where, after refurbishing, she is kept moored. An incident in the war gave her the distinction of being one of the ships that escorted the German U boat 505 back to Bermuda after her capture by three DEs. The U 505 is the German submarine on exhibit in Chicago’s Museum of Science.
SC 772, “Lady Goodiver”
(photo by David Kasper)
For several years SC 772, “Lady Goodiver”, operated in British Columbia as a live-aboard dive boat and later it was a party fishing vessel. Her owner passed away in September 2003 and it is now for sale. See Newcastle Boat Brokers for more information.
SC 1342. In 1977 Richard Lindsay of St. Paul, MN, an enterprising young man unafraid of hard work, spotted the remains of SC 1342 on the Wisconsin side of the St. Croix River. She had been towed there from New Orleans several years before, stripped of everything of value including her pilot house and deck planking, and abandoned. There, for over a decade she remained, half sunk in the mud. In December 1977 Lindsay purchased salvage rights and hauled her out of the ice up onto a hill where he and a neighbor, Brian Larson, worked in their spare time repairing the hull and making it re-floatable. After two years she was re-launched in the nearby Mississippi and “Rick” has lived aboard ever since, making improvements with Brian’s help until today, although a lot of work remains, parts of the vessel are looking quite respectable.