USS ''PGM-18'' was a built for the

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 ...

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 ...

. She was built and originally commissioned as USS ''PC-1255'', a , and was decommissioned and converted in late 1944. USS PGM-18 struck a

mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging * Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun ...

off the coast of Okinawa in April 1945; 13 men lost their lives when ''PGM-18'' sank.

Career

''PC-1255'' was built by the Luders Marine Construction Company in

Stamford, Connecticut Stamford () is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut, outside of Manhattan. It is Connecticut's second-most populous city, behind Bridgeport. With a population of 135,470, Stamford passed Hartford and New Haven in population as of the 2020 ...

. She was laid down on 29 September 1943 and launched on 23 January 1944. She was commissioned as USS ''PC-1255'' on 1 September 1944. She was decommissioned in October 1944 and converted into a gunboat at the Dade Dry Docks Shipyard in

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. She was recommissioned as USS ''PGM-18'' on 18 December 1944. She was destroyed on 7 April 1945 after striking a mine and foundering off the coast of

Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...

during the

Battle of Okinawa The , codenamed Operation Iceberg, was a major battle of the Pacific War fought on the island of Okinawa by United States Army (USA) and United States Marine Corps (USMC) forces against the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA). The initial invasion of ...

. After being commissioned as USS ''PC-1255'', the subchaser received her captain, Lieutenant John C. Bigham, Jr., USNR. She spent the first month of duty receiving her crew, bringing on supplies, and being inspected and inventoried. On 16 September 1944, she set sail for the Naval Training Center in

, arriving there on the 19th. The next day ''PC-1255'' received orders to report to the Dade Dry Docks Shipyard to undergo conversion from a submarine chaser into a patrol gunboat. Her submarine hunting technology and

antisubmarine An anti-submarine weapon (ASW) is any one of a number of devices that are intended to act against a submarine and its crew, to destroy (sink) the vessel or reduce its capability as a weapon of war. In its simplest sense, an anti-submarine weapo ...

weapons were replaced with six

20 mm 20 mm caliber is a specific size of popular autocannon ammunition. It is typically used to distinguish smaller-caliber weapons, commonly called "guns", from larger-caliber "cannons" (e.g. machine gun vs. autocannon). All 20 mm cartridges ha ...

, one twin

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 ...

, and one twin .50 cal (12.7 mm) machine guns and a 60mm mortar. She was decommissioned in October 1944 at the start of the conversion and recommissioned as USS ''PGM-18'' when the conversion was finished on 18 December 1944.

Marshall and Mariana Island chains

With her conversion complete, ''PGM-18'' returned to the Naval Training Center to undergo shakedown training. The training lasted for two straight weeks of intense drills and exercises, excluding

Christmas Day Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year, ...

and

New Year's Day New Year's Day is a festival observed in most of the world on 1 January, the first day of the year in the modern Gregorian calendar. 1 January is also New Year's Day on the Julian calendar, but this is not the same day as the Gregorian one. Wh ...

. With her training complete she spent the next several days getting her hull scrubbed clean and repainted. On 17 January 1945 she set out for

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

via the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a conduit ...

, arriving there on 2 February. ''PGM-18'' spent several days resupplying before dispatching to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, arriving there on 14 February. While at Pearl Harbor, the ship's captain, Lieutenant Bigham, broke his ankle and was replaced with Lieutenant Cyril Bayley, USNR. On 26 February, she set out for

Eniwetok Atoll Enewetak Atoll (; also spelled Eniwetok Atoll or sometimes Eniewetok; mh, Ānewetak, , or , ; known to the Japanese as Brown Atoll or Brown Island; ja, ブラウン環礁) is a large coral atoll of 40 islands in the Pacific Ocean and with it ...

with fellow gunboat, USS ''PGM-29''. On 28 February 1945, an unidentified ship approaching the pair of gunboats at an overtaking parallel course opened fire, firing two rounds which fell short. The unknown ship reversed course and attempts to contact her failed. ''PGM-18'' monitored a radio message reporting a sighting of a submarine. ''PGM-18'' proceeded to send out a message reporting that the submarine sighting was false and that they had been mistaken for a submarine. Due to the low profile of PGM gunboats and PC submarine chasers it was not uncommon for them to be misidentified as a submarine. Later, the same ship overtook them and was revealed to be US Army freighter, .

Struck by ''SS John G. Tod''

On 6 March 1945, the two gunboats arrived at Eniwetok. While anchored, ''PGM-29'' was accidentally struck by

Liberty ship Liberty ships were a class of cargo ship built in the United States during World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding Program. Though British in concept, the design was adopted by the United States for its simple, low-cost construction. Mass ...

. While she underwent repairs, ''PGM-18'' proceeded without her to

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

and then to

Ulithi Ulithi ( yap, Wulthiy, , or ) is an atoll in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, about east of Yap. Overview Ulithi consists of 40 islets totaling , surrounding a lagoon about long and up to wide—at one of the largest i ...

Battle of Okinawa

After a week of shoreleave, she proceeded to Kerama Retto,

Ryukyu Islands The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Taiwan: the Ōsumi, Tokara, Amami, Okinawa, and Sakishima Islands (further divided into the Miyako and Yaeyama Islands), with Yonaguni ...

with a group of ''YMS-1'' class minesweepers. Throughout heavy

kamikaze , officially , were a part of the Japanese Special Attack Units of military aviators who flew suicide attacks for the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, intending to d ...

attacks during the Battle of Okinawa, ''PGM-18'' and the minesweepers successfully cleaned up Japanese mines at Kerama Retto and off the west coast of Okinawa. The minesweepers turned their attention to the waters of

Nakagusuku Bay is a bay on the southern coast of Okinawa Island on the Pacific Ocean in Japan. The bay covers and ranges between to deep. The bay is surrounded by the municipalities of Uruma, Kitanakagusuku, Nakagusuku, Nishihara, Yonabaru, Nanjō, all in ...

Sunk by mine

''PGM-18'', while following behind ''YMS-103'' and destroying mines she and other minesweepers cut loose, struck and detonated a mine. Eyewitnesses on nearby ships reported that the explosion was so powerful they could see five feet of sunlight under her

keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element on a vessel. On some sailboats, it may have a hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose, as well. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in the construction of a ship, in Br ...

before she came back down into the water, rolled over, and then foundered. ''YMS-103'', in an attempt to rescue survivors, struck two mines, blowing off her bow and

stem Stem or STEM may refer to: Plant structures * Plant stem, a plant's aboveground axis, made of vascular tissue, off which leaves and flowers hang * Stipe (botany), a stalk to support some other structure * Stipe (mycology), the stem of a mushro ...

. Despite this, she was able to remain afloat. ''PGM-18'' suffered two dead, twelve missing and 14 wounded, and ''YMS-103'' suffered five killed and seven wounded. The survivors were picked up by other ships in the area. ''PGM-18'' was only in service for 111 days before her destruction and received a battle star for her involvement in the Battle of Okinawa.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:PGM-18 PC-461-class submarine chasers Ships built in Stamford, Connecticut 1944 ships PGM-9-class motor gunboats World War II patrol vessels of the United States World War II gunboats of the United States World War II shipwrecks in the Pacific Ocean Maritime incidents in April 1945 Ships sunk by mines