The ''PCE-842''-class patrol craft were

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

patrol craft escort The ''PCE-842''-class patrol craft were United States Navy patrol craft escorts designed during World War II that were intended for coastal and convoy escort. The design was derived from the as a substitute for the s that were used for anti-su ...

s designed during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

that were intended for coastal and convoy escort. The design was derived from the as a substitute for the s that were used for

anti-submarine warfare Anti-submarine warfare (ASW, or in older form A/S) is a branch of underwater warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, submarines, or other platforms, to find, track, and deter, damage, or destroy enemy submarines. Such operations are t ...

(ASW) in coastal areas. At 185 feet long and 640 tons, the PCE is more than twice the displacement of the PC and thus and in combination with a less powerful engine also much slower. It has a crew complement of 99 officers and men.

Development and design

The ''Admirable'' class had been developed as a smaller minesweeper than the and s, which would be cheaper and easier to build, while still having good seakeeping capabilities in high seas. An escort derivative of the new design was proposed for supply under 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, ...

scheme to Britain's

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

(which had already rejected the ''Admirable'' class as minesweepers), and when the

realized that a shortage of engines might prevent it from receiving additional s beyond those already on order, it was decided to build the escort variant, designated as Patrol Craft Escort (PCE) for both the US Navy and Royal Navy. The ships were

long overall __NOTOC__ Length overall (LOA, o/a, o.a. or oa) is the maximum length of a vessel's hull measured parallel to the waterline. This length is important while docking the ship. It is the most commonly used way of expressing the size of a ship, and ...

and between perpendiculars, with a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...

of and a draft of .

Displacement Displacement may refer to: Physical sciences Mathematics and Physics *Displacement (geometry), is the difference between the final and initial position of a point trajectory (for instance, the center of mass of a moving object). The actual path ...

was standard and full load. They were powered by two General Motors 12-278A

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-call ...

s driving two shafts via single reduction gearing. This gave a speed of . The ships had a range of at . The normal armament on completion consisted of a single gun forward, two

40 mm 40 mm grenade (also styled 40mm grenade) is a generic class-name for grenade launcher ammunition ( subsonic shells) in caliber. The generic name stems from the fact that several countries have developed or adopted grenade launchers in ...

anti-aircraft guns, backed up by 4 or 5 Oerlikon 20 mm cannon. A Hedgehog anti-submarine mortar was mounted between the 3 inch gun and the ship's bridge, while depth charge projectors and rails were mounted on the ships' fantail. Later ships were fitted with a third Bofors gun and additional Oerlikons, while ships were later modified to mount three twin Bofors mounts and four Oerlikons. Some ships (including ''PCE-867'') were armed with two 3-inch guns and three Oerlikons.

Detection equipment

The class was fitted with

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...

sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigation, navigate, measure distances (ranging), communicate with or detect o ...

and other detection equipment for ASW.

Conversions

Some PCEs were later converted to Rescue Escorts, PCE(R), and to Amphibious Control Vessels, PCE(C), which were used in many U.S. amphibious landing operations during World War II, especially

Leyte Gulf Leyte Gulf is a gulf in the Eastern Visayan region in the Philippines. The bay is part of the Philippine Sea of the Pacific Ocean, and is bounded by two islands; Samar in the north and Leyte in the west. On the south of the bay is Mindanao Isl ...

and

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

. Two such ships, which were converted to Rescue Escorts, were the USS ''Somersworth'' and USS ''Fairview'', both of which were present at the

surrender of Japan The surrender of the Empire of Japan in World War II was announced by Emperor Hirohito on 15 August and formally signed on 2 September 1945, bringing the war's hostilities to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy ...

in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945.

Production

Sixty-eight Patrol Craft Escorts were built for the US Navy, and seventeen were delivered under the Lend-Lease Program to

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

during World War II. The PCEs proved to be an inexpensive substitute for larger and more valuable

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...

s and destroyer escorts in convoy escort work.

Philippine Navy

, the Philippine Navy still operates the with six PCEs as gun

corvette A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the slo ...

s, with all the ships' ASW equipment already removed. The PCE is the most numerous major ship class of the Philippine Navy that, at one time, numbered more than ten vessels.

Ships

68 boats listed: 827 ... 860, 867 ... 886, 891 ... 904

Citations

Sources

* * * *

External links

{{commons category, PCE-827 class *http://www.navsource.org/archives/12/02idx.htm *http://www.ww2pcsa.org/patrol-craft.html World War II patrol vessels of the United States Patrol boat classes