July 2008 Two recent additions to the collection of hull number photographs:

SC 143 and SC 148, from the collection of the National World War One Museum, Kansas City, MO.

Interior views of any USN vessel seem to be much more rare than exterior views. Presumably from the sailor-photographer's point of view, the wider view of the vessel or the action on deck is the subject -- not the mundane realities of life as a crewman such as the bunks and galleys. For the history enthusiast, however, the opposite is sometimes true. We want to see what the living spaces looked like. But of the thousands of subchaser photos I've seen over the years, hardly any show the interior spaces.

July 2008 The page on Subchasers Built for France has been updated with some new details, including a clip from a New York Times article published in February 1918 on the remarkable journey across the Atlantic Ocean of submarine chaser SC 28.

This chaser and one other (SC 319, lost) were separated from the convoy during a storm. The crew of SC 28, their engines being out of commission, rigged a makeshift sail using bed covers, and arrived 33 days later in the Azores.

July 2008 Continuing with the collection of William B. May, CO of SC 292, this month a set of photographs is posted showing scenes on the west coast of the U.S.

July 2008 Just posted is a set of super-rare photographs showing interior spaces, from the collection of commanding officer Ens. George Perley Morse.