Lately I've been looking at some collections in my backlog of things to post, and have found some cases where I started to post a photo set and for some reason never finished. A good photo I missed is this shot of several chasers that were assigned to minesweeping duties in the North Sea after the war.

Arguably the most dangerous duty the chasers were assigned to, the task was to follow the minesweepers and shoot and sink with rifle fire any mines that floated to the surface. And this, from the deck of a 110-foot wooden motor boat. There were multiple accounts of detonations close by throwing engines off their mounts and opening seams in the hulls.

Also in that photo we can see the later style of hull number characters, larger and outlined. SC 178, on the left, shows the "before" and "after," the older/smaller hull marking still visible under the new one.

Enjoy the spring. Time allowing, I'll comb through that collection and find more chaser photos to add.

Todd Woofenden, editor