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U.S.S. AMHERST
(PCER-853)Click to view crew list
USS AMHERST (PCER-853) - a PCE(R)-848-class patrol craft (in U.S. Navy service)
In Commission 1944 to 1970PCER-853 Deployments - Major Events
Add a PCER-853 Shellback Initiation | Add a PCER-853 Deployment - Major Event | ||||
Month | Year | to | Month | Year | Deployment / Event |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
NOV | 1943 | - | Keel Date: 16 NOV 1943 at Pullman Standard Car Manufacturing Co. Chicago IL | ||
MAR | 1944 | - | Launch Date: 18 MAR 1944 | ||
JUN | 1944 | - | Commissioned: 15 JUN 1944 | ||
MAY | 1955 | - | Shellback Initiation - 6 MAY 1955 - Atlantic Ocean | ||
JUN | 1958 | - | Shellback Initiation - 6 JUN 1958 - Atlantic Ocean | ||
FEB | 1970 | - | Decommissioned: 6 FEB 1970 |
PCER-853 General Specifications
Class: PCE(R)-848-class patrol craft (in U.S. Navy service)
Complement: 85 Officers and Enlisted
Displacement: 914 tons
Length: 184.5 feet
Beam: 33 feet
Draft: 9.75 feet
Range: 6 600 Nautical Miles
Final Disposition: Escaped to the to Philippines after fall of South Vietnam 1975
USS AMHERST (PCER-853)
PCER-853 - was laid down on 16 November 1943 at Chicago
Ill.
by Pullman Standard Car Manufacturing Co.;
launched on 18 March 1944; and commissioned at New Orleans on 16 June 1944
Lt. W. W. Boynton in command.
Following shakedown in waters off Miami and Key West
Fla.
PCER-853 proceeded via the Panama Canal to Hawaii.
The ship reached Pearl Harbor on 14 September; was replenished there; and
shortly thereafter
got underway to
join the 7th Fleet in the Admiralty Islands. En route
she stopped at Funafuti
Ellice Islands; and at Finschhafen
New Guinea
before anchoring in Seeadler Harbor
Manus Island. On 12 October
PCER-853 got underway in the
screen for the ships carrying invasion forces to Leyte.
She remained off Leyte through 22 November
screening various ships and providing rescue and firefighting services.
Throughout this time
the Allied forces
including PCER-853
fought off numerous Japanese air attacks. At
the risk of endangering her own safety
the patrol rescue escort many times pulled alongside burning ships to save
sailors' lives; she also made trips to landing beaches to recover wounded for evacuation.
Following a brief replenishment trip to Seeadler Harbor
the small ship returned to the Philippines on 18 December
to support the landing on Luzon at Lingayen scheduled for early 1945. During the fighting
besides recovering casualties
PCER-853 served in Lingayen Gulf as an antisubmarine picket ship. After screening a convoy from Lingayen
Gulf to Leyte Gulf
she left the Philippine theater on 6 February 1945
bound for Ulithi.
Repairs to her generators were made at that atoll. On 21 March
the ship sailed with a transport group bound for
the assault on the Ryukyus. They reached the Kerama Retto area in late March
and PCER-853 soon began her
job of receiving
treating
and transferring wounded. Her workload greatly increased due to the intensity of the
fighting ashore on Okinawa and the success of the kamikaze attacks against ships in Ryukyuan waters. She operated
from Kerama Retto through 30 June
carrying
shuttling wounded from Okinawa and its surrounding waters back to
safety.
On that day
the ship joined a convoy bound
via Saipan
for Hawaii and reached Oahu
on 19 July. Shortly after arriving at Pearl Harbor
PCER-853 entered the Navy yard there and was still undergoing
overhaul when Japan capitulated. In September
the vessel steamed to the east coast of the United States and was
placed in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet at Green Cove Springs
Fla.
In December 1947
PCER-853 was ordered to Philadelphia to serve as a training vessel for Naval Reserve personnel
in the 4th Naval District. The ship was placed back in active status on 28 November 1950 and carried out training
duty at Philadelphia for the next 10 years. On 15 February 1956
the ship was renamed the Amherst (PCER-853).
The vessel got underway on 24 April 1960 to steam to Detroit
Mich. There
she was attached to the 9th Naval District
and continued serving as a Naval Reserve training ship. Amherst spent the remainder of her career making
training cruises throughout the Great Lakes and visiting various ports in Michigan
New York
Ohio
Illinois
Pennsylvania
Wisconsin
and Canada.
On 6 February 1970
Amherst was placed in an "out of service
special" status for pre-transfer
overhaul. Her name was struck from the Navy list on 3 June 1970
and the ship was transferred to the Republic of
Vietnam. She served the Vietnamese Navy as Van Kiep II (HQ-14) as that nation fought to avert a communist
takeover. When South Vietnam resistance crumbled
the ship escaped to the Philippines about 2 May 1975.
PCER-853 won two battle stars for her World War II service.
[Note: The above USS AMHERST (PCER-853) history may or may not contain text provided by crew members of the USS AMHERST (PCER-853) or by other non-crew members and text from the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships]