USS ''Rexburg'' (EPCE(R)-855) was built as a PCE(R)-848-class rescue escort patrol craft 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 unnamed until 1956. After working through the 1950s and 60s as an oceanographic research vessel for the

Navy Electronics Laboratory The U.S. Navy Electronics Laboratory (''NEL'') was created in 1945, with consolidation of the naval radio station, radar operators training school, and radio security activity of the Navy Radio and Sound Lab (NRSL) and its wartime partner, the U ...

, ''Rexburg'' was decommissioned in 1970 and sold to the

Church of Scientology The Church of Scientology is a group of interconnected corporate entities and other organizations devoted to the practice, administration and dissemination of Scientology, which is variously defined as a cult, a scientology as a business, bu ...

as MV ''Excaliber''.

History

After completing shakedown training in the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an oceanic basin, ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of ...

in January 1945, the unnamed PCE(R)-855 transited 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 ...

to join the Pacific Fleet. Although equipped with anti-submarine weapons for escort duty, she was used as a small hospital and tasked with rescue work 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 ...

, where she was credited with rescuing four-hundred sailors. As helicopters proved more capable for rescue work after World War II, eight surviving rescue escort patrol craft were given other assignments. PCE(R)-855 was assigned to the

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 ...

on 15 February 1946. On 7 June 1946 she was redesignated EPCER-855 and underwent alterations at

Long Beach Naval Shipyard The Long Beach Naval Shipyard (Long Beach NSY or LBNSY), which closed in 1997, was located on Terminal Island between the city of Long Beach and the San Pedro district of Los Angeles, approximately 23 miles south of the Los Angeles International ...

that enhanced her suitability for service as a laboratory research ship. Aft armament was replaced by a large cargo boom for towing instruments such as a

thermistor A thermistor is a type of resistor whose resistance is strongly dependent on temperature, more so than in standard resistors. The word thermistor is a portmanteau of ''thermal'' and ''resistor''. Thermistors are divided based on their conduction ...

chain to determine ocean temperature and salinity gradients from the surface to a depth of . She was given the name ''Rexburg'' in 1955 and in October 1959 came under the operational control of Operational Test and Evaluation Force, Pacific Projects Division, conducting electronic, communications, navigational, and underwater sound experiments until decommissioned on 2 March 1970. Before the ship was sold, the Navy removed the ship's bell for use at the Naval and Marine Corps Reserve Training Center in

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rexburg PCE(R)-848-class patrol craft Ships built in Chicago 1944 ships