Review by Felix Bustelo

During the early years of World War II, Germany's U-boats were wreaking havoc on Allied merchant shipping and placing a stranglehold on Britain's lifeline. The Allies had to react immediately to this threat by quickly deploying ships to act as subchasers and convoy escorts. Among the first ships utilized to counter the U-boats were the 173-foot steel-hulled Patrol Craft (PC) ships of the United States Navy.

These ships were well designed, efficient and distinguished themselves in service during the first few years of the war. When shipping sunk by U-boats started to diminish and larger ships with greater ranges, like destroyers and destroyer escorts, started coming out of shipyards in great numbers, PCs were re-deployed to the Pacific, the Mediterranean and the English Channel. In these new operational theaters, their roles were not limited to sub hunting and escorting convoys. PCs now served as control and close range support ships for amphibious invasions, such as Normandy, Iwo Jima and Okinawa, as well as radar pickets and anti-aircraft ships. In all tasks that they were employed, these ships and their crews distinguished themselves, only to be forgotten as time went on and historians focused on the actions of larger ships. Even PT Boats were made famous, thanks to John F. Kennedy and PT 109.

William J. Veigele, who served as MoMM on PC 793 for 22 months in the Pacific, has made a great effort to correct this oversight with this wonderful, 400 page hardcover book. PC Patrol Craft of World War II chronicles the story of these ships from the design stages and building, though their implementation and action in combat, to their ultimate dispositions and the establishment of the Patrol Craft Sailors Association.

The book's prologue recalls the commissioning of Dr. Veigele's ship, PC 793, with some pomp and circumstance in an Oregon shipyard, a scene that was replayed 361 times in 16 shipyards throughout the country. Chapter 1 covers the need for ships like the PC and recounts the damage inflicted by Nazi U- boats. Chapter 2 describes the design of the vessels and it provides the reader with a guided tour through a typical ship of this class. As the author walks you through the living and work spaces, you begin to understand just how cramped the quarters were for 5 officers and 60 enlisted men. Chapter 3 explains how PCs were built at 16 shipyards throughout the country, some of which were located in Michigan, Wisconsin and Tennessee, miles from any ocean.

Chapters 4 and 5 covers how PC crews and officers, most of which were Reservists and did not have any prior experience at sea, were trained and what life on board a PC was like. The author explains how the Submarine Chase Training School (SCTC) was established in Miami, how the training program evolved and how sailors from foreign navies also attended this school. Most of the time, entire crews graduated together from the SCTC went on to serve together on a PC, so from the outset they were a team and had already established camaraderie. Because of this and also because of the size of the ship, life onboard a PC was less formal than that on the larger ships and crewmembers and officers would very often share duties.

Chapters 6 through 9 cover the exploits of these ships in general and in the American, European and Pacific theaters of operations. It is impossible to tell the story of each and every PC in combat, but the author provides enough stories and event to drive home the message that these ships and crews fought hard and valiantly and accomplished whatever duty they were asked to do. Chapters 10 and 11 chronicles the casualties suffered among PCs and the decommissioning and disposition of these ships after the War. Sadly, none remain in the United States that can be used as a museum since most were either scrapped, sold/transferred to foreign navies or just left to rot in some shipyard. Chapter 12 tells of the founding of the Patrol Craft Sailor's Association and the group's efforts to establish a museum in Bay City, Michigan (the home of Defoe Shipbuilding Company, which is the birthplace of the PC). It also tells of their hopes in finding a PC in good enough condition that was transferred to a foreign navy that can be returned home to use as an exhibit. The narrative portion of the book ends with the less than ceremonial decommissioning of PC 793, again repeated many times in other shipyards and thus closing a chapter in United States Naval history.

Dr. Veigele's book is extremely comprehensive and well researched and is a pleasure to read. Life and duty onboard the PCs and at the SCTC is brought to life with recollections and humorous anecdotes from the men that served in this service. A wealth of information is provided in tables in the chapters and in the 10 appendices that are included at the end of the book and each chapter ends with a series of photographs, many of which came from private collections and never before published.

As a modeler's reference, this book provides an unbelievable amount of information. In addition to numerous photographs, Appendix B contains 30 highly detailed drawings drafted by Robert Baldwin, who as a 19-year-old sailor aboard PC 543 with a tape measure pad and pencil to sketch these. Also included with the book but easily missed is a fold-out plan that is stored in a sleeve that is glued to the inside of the back cover and is partially covered by the dust jacket flap. The plan is a reduction (to roughly 1/133 scale) of sheet 1 from a set of 1/48-scale plans that can be purchased separately. You can use this sheet to scratch-build a PC 461 class ship (they were the most common type of PC) or use it to detail a kit. There are kits available in 1/600 scale through PT Dockyard, as well as in 1/700 and 1/350 scales.

I highly recommend this book for anyone who wishes to build a model of a PC or just would like to learn more about these ships and crews and the service they provided to the United States and Allied Forces in World War II. A copy of this book can be purchased directly through Astral Publishing or through local and on-line bookstores. My thanks to Bill Veigele for providing me with a review copy of this book.