• Vol. 4, No. 1, January 2008

    Welcome to the fourth year of the Subchaser Archives Notes! It has been a pleasure to see ongoing interest in the chasers, and to continue to receive many excellent document and image scans from so many different private collections.

    Typically just when things seem to settle down, three or four new conversations start up. The site is the repository for the images and knowledge gained through these interesting discussions. Please continue to keep in touch!

    This month there are many more images posted to the site. I am also doing a review of past correspondence to see what I might have missed. In that vein, if anyone has submitted content to the site and has not seen it posted, please let me know. Inevitably I miss things, and lose track of conversations now and then. Please don't hesitate to send me a note. Best wishes for a productive and happy new year!

    -- Todd Woofenden

  • New in Subchaser Models Section

    January, 2008 Two excellent close-aboard photographs have been added to the Chaser Models section.

    From the collection of Henry B. Miller of subchaser SC 208 is a nice, clean view of the bucket racks on either side of the wherry. In many of the shots of chasers, these racks have been removed. My sense is that they mostly appear on chasers that are in service in U.S. waters -- which is to say, those that did not make the overseas journey to serve around England or in the Adriatic Sea, or those that had been recently commissioned and had not yet been assigned to overseas duties. Possibly they were considered impractical for trans-Atlantic sailing.

    From the same collection is a photograph showing one more style of aerial recognition roundel, a triangular design.

  • SC 297: Gary Miller Photo Set

    January, 2008 In a prior issue I noted a new set of photos from the service of subchaser SC 297, from the collection of crewman James Everett Parks.

    This month another photo set from SC 297 is posted, from the private collection of Gary Mitchell.

    A notable incident shown in some of these photographs was an explosion and fire on SC 297, post-war, in San Diego, which occurred while the chaser was fueling. One theory is that a spark from the wireless antenna caused the explosion.

    Also shown is an interesting photo of chasers in dry dock without the pilot house in place.

  • SC 208: Henry Miller Collection, additions to the site

    January, 2008 This month more photos from the collection of SC 208 Listener Henry B. Miller are posted.

    The collection, which is quite substantial, has been divided into three sections:

    SC 208: Henry Miller Collection 1 - Crossing
    SC 208: Henry Miller Collection 2 - Wartime
    SC 208: Henry Miller Collection 3 - Post-War

    to correspond to the timeline of the chaser's service. The third set is new this month, and some photos have been added to the first and second. There are many more to come.

  • SC 130: Photographs

    January, 2008 Elwood T. Hughes, quartermaster on submarine chaser SC 130, kept a personal log during his tour of duty on the chaser. Added to the transcription posted earlier are two images: a crew photo, and a photo of a musical performance by crewmen.

    This chaser was among those assigned to post-war duties along the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. Hughes describes service at Spalato, a port at which Austrian war ships were handed over to USN sailors, one of the more curious and less known post-war duties of USN sailors. As a matter of expediency, chasers that had served on the Otranto Barrage were sent to various ports to maintain a U.S. presence until larger war ships arrived.

    It must have been an unusual sight, to see chasers arriving to take over the command of Austrian war ships. For instance, see this photograph of SMS Radetsky, which was handed over to Lt. Spafford, who had been a key figure in the deployment of chasers, and was sailing on a chaser at the time.


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