Wooden Submarine Chasers

[George Converse]

I am researching the building of wooden submarine chasers in Elizabeth City, NC USA during WW II. Many of the boats built at the Elizabeth City Shipyard were turned over to the Soviet navy as part of the Lend-Lease Program or to the French navy following the war. Does anyone have any information as to their service during or disposition following the war. Thank you for any help. Sincerely,

George Converse
1431 Weeksville Road
Elizabeth city, NC 27909 USA
(252) 330-2004
converse1@roadrunner.com

[tommy303]

There is a fair amount of information on the net, just google wooden sub chasers and you will come up with quite a bit of information. There are five or so survivors, to my knowledge, and may well be a few more. One is the SC772 up in Washington State--unfortunately no longer in original condition:

http://www.vintagereclaimedflooring.com/index.html

SC718 resides in Norway as the Hitra and is a museum ship in original WW2 configuration.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HNoMS_Hitra

[Tiornu]

The standard source is Flot SSSR, Korabli i suda lendliza by S. S. Berezhnoi. You have to be careful, though, because Soviet records often disagree with American records on the names assigned upon transfer. Another small but helpful book is Project Hula by Richard A. Russell.

[George Converse]

Thank you, I will look for these. I am specifically looking for information on
Soviet Subchasers BO 201, BO 202, BO 203, BO 204, BO 205, BO 216, BO 217, BO 220, and BO 237 and French Subchasers CH-81, CH-82, CH-93, and CH-121.

[obx2003]

Geeorge, I was born and raised in Elizabeth City during the WWII days and rode my bike by the shipyard everyday of school and watched them building the PC boats as well as the fleet tugs. I can't provide you with any more information than that. Good luck in your search.

Jack Overman