USS ''Excel'' (AM-94) was an of 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 ...

. Laid down on 19 December 1941 by the Jakobson Shipyard, Inc., Oyster Bay, Long Island, New York, launched on 10 May 1942, and commissioned on 11 December 1942. The ship was reclassified as a submarine chaser, ''PC-1598'' on 1 June 1944.

World War II Atlantic operations

USS Excel arrived at Norfolk, Virginia, on 21 January 1943 for minesweeping exercises in the

Virginia Capes The Virginia Capes are the two capes, Cape Charles to the north and Cape Henry to the south, that define the entrance to Chesapeake Bay on the eastern coast of North America. In 1610, a supply ship learned of the famine at Jamestown when it ...

, then sailed to

Portland, Maine Portland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 in April 2020. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to over half a million people, the 104th-largest metropo ...

, where she based for patrol and minesweeping duty from 15 March 1943 to 3 February 1944. She was reclassified ''PC-1598'' on 1 June. Returning to Norfolk, she had local patrol, sweeping, and training duty until 9 June, when she sailed for

San Diego, California 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 eighth most populous city in the United Stat ...

, and

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the R ...

, arriving on 1 August.

Service as a submarine chaser

After serving as escort on a voyage to

Eniwetok 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 i ...

, ''PC-1598'' departed Pearl Harbor on 14 October 1944 to escort a

convoy A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support and can help maintain cohesion within a unit. It may also be used ...

of LSTs by way of Eniwetok and

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 ...

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 larges ...

. Here a new convoy of landing craft was assembled, and with it ''PC-1598'' arrived at Hollandia,

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torr ...

, on 16 November. For the next two months, she escorted convoys among the ports of New Guinea, aiding in the assembling of shipping for the

Lingayen Lingayen, officially the Municipality of Lingayen ( pag, Baley na Lingayen; ilo, Ili ti Lingayen; tgl, Bayan ng Lingayen), is a 1st class municipality of the Philippines, municipality and capital of the Philippine Province, province of Pangasi ...

assault. She left Hollandia on 10 January 1945 on escort duty for San Pedro Bay,

Leyte Leyte ( ) is an island in the Visayas group of islands in the Philippines. It is eighth-largest and sixth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 2,626,970 as of 2020 census. Since the accessibility of land has be ...

, and on 9 February, arrived at Ulithi, where she joined in exercises, and transported men from place to place in the vast fleet anchorage. In company with six other minecraft, ''PC-1598'' sailed from Ulithi on 19 March 1945 to sweep mines off

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 ...

, clearing the way for both pre-invasion

bombardment A bombardment is an attack by artillery fire or by dropping bombs from aircraft on fortifications, combatants, or towns and buildings. Prior to World War I, the term was only applied to the bombardment of defenseless or undefended objects, ...

and the assault landings of 1 April. She carried out her hazardous mission successfully, destroying many enemy mines, and sailed from the island on 5 April for a repair period at Guam. ''PC-1598'' gave patrol and escort services in the Marianas, and on 3 July she rescued a downed aviator. After voyaging to Okinawa in the escort for a large convoy between 8 and 21 July, she returned to duty in the Marianas. On 5 August, she made rendezvous off Saipan with the submarine to take off one of the officers, who was severely ill. ''PC-1598'' operated out of Saipan until 17 October 1945, when she sailed for

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

Decommissioning

''PC-1598'' was decommissioned on 22 January 1946 at San Francisco, California, and sold on 11 June 1947 to the Tidewater/Shaver Barge Lines of Suisun Bay, California. Fate unknown.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Excel (AM-94) Adroit-class minesweepers Ships built in Oyster Bay, New York 1942 ships World War II minesweepers of the United States World War II patrol vessels of the United States