Welcome to the 16th year of The Subchaser Archives Notes.
Since by the end of 1919 the story of the U.S. submarine chasers in WWI was essentially over, the "100 years ago" theme is complete. On my long-term list of chaser-related topics is to chase down the various leads on post-war use of subchasers: Chasers were converted into everything from small yachts to fire boats to rum runners.
But the main project on my mind as we enter 2020 is the project of capturing details of the war time deployment of chasers overseas. As I mentioned last month, I have a (impractically ambitious) plan to compile the information into a book, covering the 133 chasers that crossed the Atlantic Ocean during the war.
To that end, a couple of notes:
- This is going to take a long time! I'm partway through digitizing crew records, and it's a seemingly endless task.
- Please continue to send notes on specific chasers, crewmen, or resources on the chasers that served overseas. I'll be doing an archeological dig into a decade or two of email communications, book lists, etc., but don't hesitate to remind me of particular resources.
Thank you, and Happy New Year!
Todd Woofenden, editor
Recently Posted:
A photo card from SC 256 and a crew shot of gunner Joseph Dada, courtesy of Don Garrison (grandson of Joseph Dada).
A crew shot from SC 341, courtesy of Dave Muth, whose grandfather served on this chaser.