USS SC-497


USS PC-497 before her conversion into USS SC-497.
Career (United States of America)
Name: USS SC-497
Operator:  United States Navy
Builder: Westergard Boat Works, Inc.
Laid down: 7 March 1941
Launched: 4 July 1941
Commissioned: 15 April 1942
Fate: Transferred to France on 18 March 1944, permanently on 15 August 1944.
Career (France)
Name: CH-96
Operator:  Free French Naval Forces
 French Navy
Acquired: 18 March 1944
Renamed: CH-724 in 1952 and later P-724
Fate: Withdrawn from service on 23 October 1980, fate unknown.
General characteristics
Class and type: SC-497 class submarine chaser
Type: submarine chaser
Displacement: 148 tons
Length: 110 ft 10 in (34 m)
Beam: 17 ft (5 m)
Draft: 6 ft 6 in (2 m)
Propulsion: 2 x 880bhp General Motors 8-268A diesel engines, Snow and Knobstedt single reduction gear
2 x shafts
Speed: 15.6 knots
Complement: 28
Armament: 1 x 40mm gun mount gun mount
2 x .50 caliber machine guns
2 x Y guns
2 x ducts

USS SC-497 was a SC-497 class submarine chaser that served in the United States Navy and later the Free French Navy during World War II. She was originally laid down as PC-497 on 29 November 1941 by the Westergard Boat Works in Rockport, Texas, and launched on 4 July 1941. She was commissioned as USS PC-497 on 16 October 1942. She was later reclassified as a SC-497 class submarine chaser and renamed SC-497. She was transferred to the Free French Navy as part of the Lend-Lease program on 18 March 1944 as CH-96. The transfer was made permanent on 15 August 1944. She was renamed CH-724 in 1952 and later P-724 before being withdrawn from service on 23 October 1980. Her exact fate is unknown.

References