< Asheboro-PC-822

Asheboro-PC-822

 

Asheboro

The county seat of Randolph County, North Carolina, initially settled by German immigrants around 1740. Chartered in 1796, the city was named in honor of the Honorable Samuel Ashe (1725-1813), the ninth governor of North Carolina (1795-1798), a Harvard-educated jurist who became an "early and zealous adherent of the colonial cause."

(PC-822: dp. 375 (tl.); 1. 173'8"; b. 23'0"; dr. 6'6"; s. 22 k.; cpl. 80; a. 13", 1 40mm., 2 20mm., 2 dct., 4 dcp.; el. PC-592)

PC-822 was laid down on 26 October 1943 at Sturgeon Bay, Wis., by the Leathem D. Smith Shipbuilding Corp.; launched on 27 December 1943; sponsored by Mrs. William C. McMahon, the wife of the Navy's inspector of ship construction at the builder's yard; and commissioned at New Orleans on 2 June 1944, Lt. John P. Fishwick, USNR, in command.

Arriving at Miami, Fla., on 15 June 1944, PC-822 conducted her shakedown training from the Submarine Chaser Training Center, Miami, and sonar training out of Key West, Fla., intil leaving that port on 27 July to escort convoy KN-328 to New York. After reaching her destination on I August, PC-822 sailed south on the 14th and proceeded along the eastern seaboard, escorting convoy NG-453 to Guantanamo Bay. She reached Cuban waters on the 21st and got underway again five days later to shepherd Convoy GN-153 back to New York. After reaching that port on 1 September, PC-822 escorted the freighter Sea Owl to Key West.

Routed onward to the Canal Zone, she reported for duty with the Panama Sea Frontier on 17 September. PC-822 spent the rest of 1944 engaged in convoy escort operations, shuttling ships between Guantanamo Bay and the Canal Zone.

This routine continued into February 1945 when PC-822 received a special escort mission. She departed the Canal Zone on 2 March 1945 in company with Halibut (SS-232)-veteran of 10 successful war patrols and a recipient of the Navy Unit Commendation-which was on her way to decommissioning at Portsmouth, N.H., where she was to serve as a damage control school vessel. Turning over her charge to PC-1147 on 7 March, PC-822 proceeded on to Key West.

PC-822 underwent overhaul at Miami and refresher training at Key West before returning to the Canal Zone for local operations out of Coco Solo. During the first two weeks of August 1945 she conducted antisubmarine exercises out of Balboa with surface ships submarines, and patrol craft. She returned to Coco Solo on V-J Day; after hunter-killer exercise with Clamagore (SS-343) she returned to Balboa for antisubmarine exercises and patrol duty. On 20 September, at San Miguel Bay, Panama, she rescued six crew members of a distressed Ecuadorian sailing vessel.

On 7 May 1946 PC-822 departed Coco Solo for Charleston. Her orders were changed en route, and she arrived at Miami for overhaul before proceeding to West Palm Beach, Florida, for
duty as a naval reserve training ship. Placed out of commission on 12 July 1946, she was placed "in service" under the 7th Naval District. As a training ship, she made voyages to ports along the
Atlantic and gulf coast until 28 April 1950, when she was paced in reserve at Norfolk.

PC-822 was named Asheboro on 15 February 1956, but never resumed active service. Her name was struck from the Navy list on 1 April 1959. She was sold sometime between 1 October 1959 and I January 1960.