| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Namesake | Winnemucca, Nevada |
| Builder | Defoe Shipbuilding Company |
| Laid down | 2 June 1943 |
| Launched | 27 October 1943 |
| Commissioned | 1 June 1944 |
| Decommissioned | 15 August 1955 |
| Stricken | 1 June 1960 |
| Fate | Transferred toSouth Korea 1 November 1960 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | PC-461 |
| Displacement | 280 tons |
| Length | 173 ft 8 in (52.93 m) |
| Beam | 23 ft 0 in (7.01 m) |
| Draft | 10 ft 10 in (3.30 m) |
| Speed | 20.2 knots |
| Complement | 65 |
| Armament |
|
USSPC-1145, laterUSSWinnemucca (PC-1145), was aUnited States NavyPC-461-classsubmarine chaser in commission from 1944 to 1955. In 1960, she was transferred toSouth Korea for service in theRepublic of Korea Navy.
PC-1145 waslaid down on 2 June 1943 at theDefoe Shipbuilding Company inBay City,Michigan. She waslaunched on 27 October 1943 andcommissioned atNew Orleans,Louisiana, on 1 June 1944.
PC-1145 completedshakedown training in theGulf of Mexico on 11 June and reported for duty to the Commander,Gulf Sea Frontier. For the next year, the submarine chaser plied the waters of the Gulf of Mexico and theAtlantic Ocean off theUnited States East Coast conductinganti-submarine patrols and escorting coastwiseconvoys, In the performance of those duties, the little warship ranged as far north asNew York City and as far south as thePanama Canal Zone.
Early on the morning of 11 October 1944, during a heavy rainsquall,PC-1145 collided with thesubmarineUSS Blower (SS-325). No one on either ship suffered any injuries, butPC-1145′sbow was smashed back to the first water-tightbulkhead.Blower suffered a hole in her bowbuoyancy tank, damage to herconning tower, and a sheared blade on herstarboardpropeller.
Following thevictory in Europe,PC-1145 received orders assigning her to theUnited States Pacific Fleet. Early in June 1945, she departed her base atMiami, Florida, and headed via thePanama Canal for theCalifornia coast and underwentrepairs atSan Diego, California, before continuing west toHawaii. She departed San Diego on 15 July and arrived inPearl Harbor on the 21st. She did not resume her westward voyage toward theMarshall Islands until 7 August. The submarine chaser reported for duty upon her arrival atEniwetok Atoll on the 13th, but hostilities ceased the following day.
Nevertheless, the submarine chaser remained in thewestern Pacific more than a year. For about a month following her arrival, she performedpatrol andescort duty in the Marshalls and theCarolines. On 7 September, she departed Eniwetok for a round-trip voyage toJapan, returning almost a month later, on 5 October. The ship then resumed her patrol and escort duties in the Marshalls and Carolines. After a round-trip voyage toWake Island late in October, she reported to the atoll commander atMajuro in November for duty as stationsearch and rescue ship. That assignment lasted until mid-February 1946 when she departed Majuro for extensivemaintenance atGuam.
She completed repairs on 16 June and departed Guam on an inspection tour of theWestern Carolines carrying representatives of theUnited States Commercial Company, a public corporation charged with responsibility for the economic rehabilitation of theCentral Pacific region. For the next four months,PC-1145 served the United States Military Government administering the Central Pacific islands and worked hand-in-hand with officials of the United States Commercial Company surveying the region in preparation for efforts to reestablish a viable localeconomy.
In November, she departed the Central Pacific for her first completeoverhaul since commissioning. She entered thePearl Harbor Naval Shipyard on 21 November and remained there until 23 December. On that date, she reported to the Commander,Fleet Training Center, Pearl Harbor, under whose auspices she conducted refresher training and made a cruise toHilo.PC-1145 departed Pearl Harbor on 27 February 1947, and on 4 March, arrived atMidway Island where she reported for duty to the Commander,Naval Operating Base, Midway. There, she served as an air search and rescue ship until the end of the second week in May. Relieved byPC-1172 on the 13th,PC-1145 headed back to Pearl Harbor. The warship operated out of theOahu base conducting upkeep and repairs and serving as a training ship until late July. She then returned to Midway and resumed duty as search and rescue vessel. On 15 November,PCS-1399 relieved her at Midway; andPC-1145 returned to Pearl Harbor for a restricted availability.
For the remainder of her active career,PC-1145 alternated between duty out of Pearl Harbor and service as an air search and rescue ship, at first based at Midway but later atKwajalein,Johnston Island, Guam, andSamoa. After 1950, however, Guam and Samoa ceased to beduty stations for the submarine chaser and her sister ships.
Duty in and out of Pearl Harbor consisted of repairs,training, target towing, andanti-submarine warfare operations.PC-1145 departed Pearl Harbor for the last time on 19 February 1955 and arrived inSan Francisco, California, a week later. Following nearly four months of repairs atTreasure Island, she stood out ofSan Francisco Bay on her way toAstoria, Oregon, and inactivation. On 15 August 1955, the ship was placed out of commission at Astoria and was berthed with theColumbia River Group,Pacific Reserve Fleet. On 15 February 1956, the submarine chaser—still inactive—was namedWinnemucca, after a city in northwesternNevada situated on theHumboldt River, and the seat of government forHumboldt County. She remained with the reserve fleet until 1 June 1960 when her name was struck from theNavy List. On 1 November, she was transferred to the Navy of theRepublic of Korea.
This article incorporates text from thepublic domainDictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entries can be foundhere andhere.
