Belleville, 1943

Nov. 5, 2020
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Belleville, WPC-372 


Builder:  George Lawley & Sons, Neponset, MA

Length:  110'

Beam:  14' 9" max

Draft: 5' 8" max (as of 1917)

Displacement: 167 fl (in 1943)

Cost: $10,000 (USCG in 1943)

Commissioned:  28 November 1917 (USN); 20 March 1943 (USCG)

Decommissioned:  30 June 1945

Disposition: Transferred to the WSA on 2 May 1946

Machinery:  3 x Standard Motor Construction Company 6-cylinder gasoline engines; 600 shp; three propellers

Complement: 2 officers, 25 men (1917)

Armament: 1 x 3"/23 (single-mount); 2 x .30 caliber mg; 2 x Mousetraps; 2 x depth charge tracks (1943)


Cutter History:

The Belleville (ex SC-258; ex-Liberty II) was a Navy SC-1 Class patrol craft taken into Coast Guard service in March of 1943 to meet the pressing need for coastal escort vessels.  Originally designed and built during World War I to meet that shortage of escorts, these patrol craft were known as the "splinter fleet" due to their wooden construction.  The other three acquired by the Coast Guard in 1942/1943 were the CGC Blaze (ex SC-231); Boone (ex SC-229); and Bowstring (ex SC-238).

The War Shipping Administration acquired the Belleville for $10,000 on 19 November 1942 from a private owner and transferred her to the Coast Guard.  She was rearmed and converted for service at a cost of $99,714.  After her rearmament was completed, Belleville was placed in commission on 20 March 1943.  She then commenced a 10-day shakedown in the waters off the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut.  After her shakedown, Belleville was assigned to the Gulf Sea Frontier and was stationed at Miami.  Here she conducted anti-submarine and escort of convoy duties.  In April of 1944 she was transferred to the 8th Naval District and was stationed at New Orleans, again conducting anti-submarine and escort of convoy duties.  On 23 May 1945 Belleville was ordered to sail to the Coast Guard Yard at Curtis Bay, Maryland, to be decommissioned.

She was decommissioned at the Coast Guard Yard on 30 June 1945 and turned over to the WSA in July of 1945.  Belleville was sold to a private owner on 2 May 1946.