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Naval History and Heritage Command

Naval History and Heritage Command

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Beaufort IV (PCS-1387)

1956-1967

A city in South Carolina, and the seat of government for Beaufort County.

IV

(PCS-1387: displacement 338 (full load); length 136'0"; beam 24'6"; draft 8'7"; speed 14.1 knots; complement 57; armament 1 3-inch, 1 40 millimeter, 2 20 millimeter, 2 depth charge projectors, 1 depth charge projector (Hedgehog), 2 depth charge tracks; class PCS-1376)

PCS-1387 was laid down on 22 May 1943 at Whitestone, N.Y.; launched on 10 October 1944; sponsored by Miss Barbara C. Dietz; and commissioned at the New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn, N.Y. on 27 November 1944, Lt. (j.g.) Anthony C. Kupris, USNR, in command.

After fitting out, the submarine chaser embarked upon her shakedown cruise on 15 December 1944. She conducted that training out of Key West, Fla., between 22 December 1944 and 2 January 1945. On the latter day, PCS-1387 began duty with the Fleet Sonar School, Key West, as a training platform for new sonarmen. She also doubled as harbor guard ship at Key West. Such training duties continued past the end of the war, through the late 1940's, and into the 1950's. The 1950's, however, brought an increase in the extent of her zone of operations for, after that time, she ranged the Atlantic coast as far north as Narragansett Bay and south into the Caribbean Sea.

On 15 February 1956, PCS-1387 was named Beaufort. Just over a month later on 26 March, Beaufort was decommissioned at St. Petersburg, Fla. Her usefulness to the Navy, however,continued, as  she was retained in service for another 11 years under the Commandant, SIxth Naval District, as a training ship for naval reservists.

On 15 July 1967, her name was stricken from the Navy Lst, and she was turned over to the Naval Weapons Laboratory, Dahlgren, Va., for use as a target. Apparently, she was not totally destroyed because she was sold in July 1972 to Mr. David Hahn of Belize, British Honduras.

Raymond A. Mann

Updated, Robert J. Cressman

26 October 2021

 
Published: Tue Oct 26 10:31:31 EDT 2021