Bethany (PC-620)
1956-1957
Cities in Connecticut, Missouri, Oklahoma, and West Virginia.
(PC-620: displacement 280; length 173'8"; beam 23'0"; draft 10'10"; speed 20.2 knots (trial); complement 65; armament 2 3-inch, 2 20 millimeter, 2 depth charge projectors (Mousetrap), 2 depth charge tracks; class PC-461)
PC-620 was laid down on 27 February 1942 at Nashville, Tenn., by the Nashville Bridge Co.; launched on 12 August 1942; and commissioned at New Orleans, La., on 8 January 1943, Lt. Cmdr. Rowland H. Groff, USNR, in command.
Following operations in the Pacific theater, PC-620 reached Key West, Fla., on 17 April 1946 and began preparations for inactivation. Between 21 and 23 May, she steamed from Key West to Green Cove Springs, Fla., where she was placed out of commission, in reserve, at Green Cove Springs on 16 August 1946. There she remained with the Atlantic Reserve Fleet for a little more than 11 years. Though named Bethany on 15 February 1956, the submarine chaser saw no active service under the name. Stricken from the Navy List on 5 September 1957, ex-Bethany was sold to the Boston Metals Co., of Baltimore, Md., early in the summer of the following year to be broken up for scrap.
For a comprehensive history of this vessel, see PC-620.
Raymond A. Mann
14 October 2021
