Kelso PC-1170

Kelso

A city in Cowlitz County, Wash.

(PC-1170: dp. 295; 1. 174'; b. 23'; dr. 8'; s. 20 k.; cpl. 65;
a. 1 3", 1 40mm., 2 20 mm., 2 rkt., 4 dcp. 2 dct.

PC-1170 was laid down by Sullivan Dry Dock & Repair Co., Brooklyn, N.Y., 3 July 1943; launched 16 October; sponsored by Mrs. M. M. McCauley; and commissioned 21 February 1944; Lt. Burrill. D. Barker, Jr., in command.

After shakedown off the Florida coast, PO-1170 was assinged to convoy escort duty between Guantanamo, Cuba, and New York. Screening against possible German U-boat attacks, the subchaser made the New York-Cuba voyage 33 times from May 1943 to June 1945. Departing New York 18 June, she steamed to the Pacific to strengthen naval strength in that unfinished war.

Following a brief stay in San Diego, PC-1170 proceeded to Pearl Harbor, arriving there late July. On 2 August she departed Hawaii for patrol duty in the Marshall Islands. The veteran subchaser was operating out of Eniwetok when World War II ended. Transferred to the Hawaiian Sea Frontier, PC-1170 for the next 10 years performed patrol duty and reported weather information in the Central Pacific.

On 26 February 1955 she arrived San Francisco and decommissioned 8 August 1955. While berthed with the Pacific Reserve Fleet, she was named Kelso 15 February 1956. Kelso was struck from the Navy List 1 July 1960 and sold to Ship Supply Corp. 25 April 1961.