USS SC-654

Introduction

The SC-654 was one of 438 SC-497 Class Submarine Chasers built during the war. Each cost about $500,000. She was laid down September 18th, 1941 by the Westergard Boat Works, Biloxi, MS. SC-654 was launched seven months later on May 4th, 1942 and finally commissioned on July 18th, 1942 under the command of Lieutenant Joel T. Williams, Jr.

Like the other vessels in her class, the SC-654 was built with a wooden hull and the type were known as the smallest commissioned warships in the US fleet. Overall length was 110 feet, 10 inches, beam was 17 feet, 11 1/2 inches and draft was only 10 feet, 10 inches.

She displaced 98 tons and with her twin 880bhp General Motors 8-268A diesel engines, Snow and Knobstedt single reduction gear, and two shafts she was capable of 15.6 to 21 knots, depending on which source you believe. Her cruising range was a maximum of 1,500 nautical miles at 12 knots.

Armament tended to vary as it changed throughout the war based on availability and adaptations, but at the time of the rescue SC-654 is believed to have been equipped with One Bofors 40mm Mark 3 mount on her foredeck, two 20mm Mark 10 machine canons amidships (1 starboard, 1 port), possibly a third 20mm center/aft on a raised platform, two depth charge projector "K Guns," and two depth charge racks at the stern with 3 charges each. I don't believe she was equipped with the Mousetrap rails on the bow per the drawings below until later in the war.

Though originally designed as an off-shore submarine chaser, SC-654 seems to have been primarily utilized as a short range escort, bringing larger vessels into port. Despite their designation, the class did not have any success against axis submarines during the war. 17 of the vessels were lost during the war (1 as a PGM conversion).

From her crew rosters, I have been able to piece together SC-654’s Commander History:

September 1942 through March 1943 - Joel T. Williams Jr. (Hopkins. XO)

June 1943 - W.L. Hopkins Lt(jg) USNR (Boutall, XO)

September 1943 through December 1943 - John C Boutall, Ensign USNR (Engelman, XO)

March 1944 through September 1944 - Ralph Engelman, Ensign USNR (Finch, XO)

December 1944 - William R. Finch, Lt.(jg) USNR (Schweitzer, XO)

March 1945 through December 1945 - Samuel S. Schweitzer, Ensign USNR (Cochran, XO)

At the time of the Cape San Juan rescue, SC-654 was commanded by John Charles Boutall, Ensign USNR (profiled below).

Her normal complement was 25 crew and 3 officers, though at the time SC-654 had just had 3 men transfer off and their replacements had not yet arrived.

Pre-Cape San Juan History

Unfortunately, no War Diary currently exists on Fold3.com for the SC-654’s involvement in the rescue. Based on references from other vessel’s and navy base’s War Diaries I have been able to piece together SC-654’s movements from soon after her commissioning up to the point she was directed to assist with the rescue efforts:

July 25th, 1942 - At U.S. Naval Section Base, Burrwood, LA (Note: identified as SC-654, not PC-654, which conflicts with navsource.org's info)

August 1st, 1942 - Departed Key West for Miami, arriving same day.

September 29th, 1942 - At U.S. Naval Section Base, Galveston, TX

October 18th, 1942 - Assisted escorting convoys PK-111 and KG-609 (Key West to Guantanamo).

December 25th, 1942 - At U.S. Naval Operating Base, Key West, FL

December 29th, 1942 - At U.S. Submarine Base, Coco Solo, Canal Zone

December 31st, 1942 - USS Patuxent departed Balboa (Canal Zone) acting as a fuel supply ship for the following vessels destined for the Southwest Pacific: SC-504, SC-505, SC-514, SC-531, SC-640, SC-654, SC-668, SC-669 and SC-748. The tanker was to accompany the submarine chasers as far as Bora Bora from whence they would proceed onward independently.

February - March, 1943 - At Havannah Harbor, Efate, New Hebrides

April - August, 1943 - At Espiritu Santo

September, 1943 - At Ile Nou Great Roads, Noumea, New Caledonia, took part is tests of Auxiliary Floating Dry Dock ARD-2. It was during this time that Boutall was believed to have taken command of SC-654.

November 5th, 1943 - Escorted tanker SS Esso Annapolis into Nandi and then departed for Suva, Fiji.

November 6th, 1943 - Escorted MV Matua (British) out of Suva bound for Auckland, NZ, then directed to proceed to Tonga for duty.

Post-Cape San Juan History

Using the same technique as above, I was able to reconstruct SC-654’s movements in the days and months after the rescue:

December 2nd, 1943 - Took part in anti-submarine training exercises around Fiji with USS S-38. Boutall is believed to have left SC-654 at the beginning of the year and was replaced by his XO, Ensign Ralph Engelman.

May 15th, 1944 - At Espiritu Santo

August 28th, 1944 - Took part in submarine training exercises around Las Perlas Islands (Pearl Islands) off Panama.

October, 1944 - At Espiritu Santo

November 16th, 1944 - Helped screen vessels off Guadalcanal

April 3rd, 1945 - Departed Guadalcanal for Suva via Espiritu Santo

August 11th, 1945 - At Guam"

"At about 1000 King today the USS SC 654 went aground on Western Shoals north of Berth 24. The USS SC 654 was pulled off at high tide and will be dry-docked for repairs. The Industrial Department kept her afloat with additional pumps while divers put emergency patch over hole".

August 12th, 1945 - SC 654 went into ARDC-3 for repairs.

August 15th, 1945 - Official word of Japans surrender was received at Guam.

August 25th, 1945 - SC-654 released from dry dock.

December 11th, 1945 - Decommissioned

December 18th, 1945 - "The hulk of SC 654 was towed out to sea, approximately five miles from the mouth of the harbor, and sunk by two charges of dynamite".

It is unclear why the SC 654 was referred to as a hulk, other than her being decommissioned on the 11th. There is mention of a heavy storm or Typhoon on October 4th, during which several vessels broke their moorings. It is possible she was damaged during that storm.

By June of 1943 he was a young 22-year-old Ensign serving as Executive Officer (XO) on the Submarine Chaser SC-654 in the South Pacific under the command of Lieutenant (j.g.) W.L. Hopkins. By September of 1943 Boutall was in command of the SC-654 himself, at the age of 23, a position he held at least through the end of December when he moved on and was replaced by his XO, Ensign Ralph Engleman.

He next appears in the records joining the Destroyer Escort USS O’Toole (DE-527) on September 4th. 1944 as a Lieutenant (j.g.). The transfer notes that he was received from the U.S. Naval Damage Control Training Center in Philadelphia, PA. The O’Toole was an Evarts-class Destroyer escort similar to the USS Dempsey, and was commanded by Lieutenant Victor Stallworth Mauldin. On May 1st, 1945 John was promoted to Lieutenant.

According to the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, during this period;

“On 9 September, O’Toole stood out of New York Harbor on her first escort of convoy mission. Acting as communication liaison ship between CTG 27.5 and convoy NY 119, she shepherded the small craft convoy to the Azores, thence to Falmouth, England, arriving 18 October.”

That passage from the dictionary sounds almost mundane, but the reality was that convoy NY 119 was about as dramatic as it gets. Not because of German U-Boats as you might assume, but because of Mother Nature.

The convoy was comprised of a motley collection of seventy-six vessels, most contracted to the US Army and manned by civilian crews. These consisted of:

14 steel railroad car floats

14 wooden cargo barges

13 large seagoing tugs (LT-63, LT-374, LT-492, LT-521, LT-536, LT-537, LT-579, LT-580, LT-581, LT-643, LT-651, LT-653, and LT-784)

14 small harbor tugs (ST-501, ST-510, ST-511, ST-676, ST-677, ST-718, ST-719, ST-720, ST-742, ST-748, ST-750, ST-751, ST-752, and ST-747)

16 self-propelled harbor oil barges (Y-17, Y-34, Y-48, Y-49, Y-81, Y-82, Y-83, Y-84, Y-86, Y-104, Y-105, Y-106, Y-126, plus three others unidentified)

HMS Pretext (AN-76, British net tender built by American Car and Foundry Co.)

HMS Astravel (Small amphibious transport)

SS Suerte (Panamanian merchant)

In addition, there was also the fleet oiler USS Maumee (AO-2) and the sea-going tug USS Abnaki (ATF-96). The Army vessels were greatly needed in the ports the allies had recently liberated in France in the months after the D-Day Normandy landings.

Beside O’Toole, the escorts consisted of the Destroyer Escorts USS Edgar G. Chase (DE-16), USS John J. Powers (DE-528), USS John M. Bermingham (DE-530), and finally USS Mason (DE-529), the latter known for being the only US warship having a mostly “negro” crew. Like the men of the 855th, they would prove their mettle.

To complicate matters further, due to the capabilities of the vessels being escorted, convoy speed had to be held to an excruciating 5 knots, later reduced to 3.5 knots during the bad weather. This convoy then headed across the Atlantic into one of the worst hurricane seasons on record.

By the time they reached England they had lost 8 of the steel railroad car floats, 5 of the wooden cargo barges, 3 of the small harbor tugs, but miraculously only 18 men.

The ST tugs were all Army Design 327 (steel 86x23x10 650hp diesel):

The 18 men lost on the harbor tugs were all due to the small vessels foundering in the heavy seas. The sequence was as follows:

26 September 1944 at about 0230: ST-719 (Smith Shipyards, Pensacola Florida 1944) turned over without notice and sank. Weather at the time: Wind NE, 22-27 knots, Seas 5-8 feet from NE. USS John J. Powers (DE-528) saved 4, 10 saved in total. 2 crew lost:

• • • Janos, Thomas – Cook

    • Malone, William L. - First Officer

18 October 1944 at 0515 ST-511 (United Boat Service, City Island New York 1944) turned over and sank. Two groups of survivors made it into rafts but sea conditions prevented successful rescue (Visibility less than 500 yards, seas 40-50 feet, wind 40 knots from west, very choppy, spindrift, and rollers continuous). A.B. Joseph D. Holliday was picked up by O'Toole and another man (unidentified) by LT-580, 9 crew lost:

• • • Ambjornsen, Pedar A. - Cook

    • Canning, Horace M. – Master

    • Carey, Emmet T. – Oiler

    • Dunker, Richard J. – 1st Engineer

    • Evanson, Ivars – Cargo Officer

    • Hughes, George G. – A.B.

    • Larsen, Harry A. – A.B.

    • Walker, John Francis – A.B.

    • Wolcott, Josiah O. - Chief Mate

18 October 1944 ST-720 capsized at 0500 (Smith Shipyards, Pensacola Florida 1944) Winds in excess of 60mph, seas 40-50 feet. USS John J. Powers (DE-528) saved 4:

• • • Buswell, Charles – SM2c

    • Forbes, Robert – Oiler

    • Lamude, Frederick – 1st Engineer

    • O’Leary, Michael – A.B.

7 crew lost:

• • • Crossman, Richard Terrence – Chief Mate

    • McFarlane, James – A.B.

    • Moran, Stephen R. – A.B.

    • Scrivener, James E. – Chief Engineer

    • Sutcliffe, Thomas – A.B.

    • Thrasyvoulos, Joannides – Cargo Officer

    • Wallace, Edward A. – Master

Perhaps John’s previous experience during the Cape San Juan rescue on SC-654 helped in the rescue of some of the crews.

The Dictionary continued summarizing O'Toole's service:

“On 8 November she departed for Reykjavik as escort to Abnaki (ATF–96). From Iceland she proceeded to Norfolk and New York, where she rejoined CortDiv 80. In mid-December the escort sailed with convoy UGS 64 [comprised of 72 merchant ships] for North Africa, returning 23 January 1945. Completing another Mediterranean run in April, she was enroute home from Algeria when the war in Europe ended.

Arriving at New York 23 May, she operated off the New England coast until mid-July when she proceeded to Miami, for a brief tour as school ship. In September, she moved north, reporting for inactivation at Charleston on the 10th. Decommissioned there 18 October, she was struck from the Navy List 1 November, and scrapped in March 1946.”

It is not clear from the O’Toole’s war diaries or rosters exactly when John left the vessel or when he was discharged, but it known that he did not stay in the Navy for long.