Excalibur's military history
| PCE(R)-855 USS Rexburg | |
|---|---|
| Length | 184' 6" |
| Beam | 33' 1" |
| Displacement | 850 tons |
| Draft | 9' 5" |
| Top Speed | 15.7 knots |
| Crew | 110 |
| Commissioned | November 1, 1944 |
The Scientology Sea Org ship Excalibur started it's life as a U.S. Naval ship. This is the history of it's life as a Navy "Little Ship".
The birth of the Excalibur[edit | edit source]
During World War II the U.S. Navy commissioned many different types of ships. One category was the PCE(R), which stood for Patrol Craft Escort (Rescue). The Navy ordered 54 PCE(R)'s, but only 13 ships were built, 12 of which were commissioned. These were armed rescue ships which served three missions; damage control/firefighting, casualty treatment/evacuation and patrol/guard ship. Each ship's hospital had 65 beds, a surgical suite and X-Ray facilities. The medical department had a staff of 11 hospital corpsmen and doctors. These ships were in the category of smaller Navy ships,
which were sometimes referred to as "Little Ships".
The Excalibur's keel was laid down on December 8, 1943 by the Pullman-Standard Car Manufacturing Company of Chicago, Illinois. Their yard was located on the north side of 130th Street, at Lake Calumet, which is on the south side of Chicago. The ship was launched on April 10, 1944. It entered the Calumet River and headed to the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. From there it entered the Illinois River and headed southwest to the Mississippi River, eventually ending up at the U.S. Naval repair base in New Orleans, Louisiana.
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On November 1, 1944 the ship was commissioned the PCE(R)-855, commanded by Lt. Arnold C. Anderson. The PCE(R)-855 had a displacement of 850 tons, a length of 184' 6", a beam of 33' 1", a draft of 9' 5" and had a top speed of 15.7 knots. She had two 2,000bhp General Motors 12-278A diesel engines coupled to two Falk single reduction gears and two propeller shafts. The ship was outfitted with one 3"/50 caliber dual purpose gun, two 40mm anti-aircraft guns, six 20mm caliber guns, two depth charge racks and 3 K-guns (which could fire 300 pound depth charges). She had a crew of 110 sailors.
The PCE(R)'s shakedown was completed in the Gulf of Mexico in January of 1945. She then sailed through the Panama Canal and arrived at Pearl Harbor on February 18, 1945, ready for duty. From there the ship sailed, by way of Saipan, to the Ulithi Atoll in order to participate in the invasion of Okinawa. The atoll was a secret staging area for the U.S. Navy's western Pacific operations. Ulithi had a vast anchorage, which at it's peak, held 722 Navy vessels! The PCE(R)-855 operated around Okinawa, mainly acting as a support and rescue ship on the destroyer picket line and also performing duty as an anti-submarine patrol ship.
The PCE(R) spent a total of 82 days operating in the waters off of Okinawa.
In August of 1945 the PCE(R)-855 operated in the Leyte Gulf, followed by operations in the Philippine waters and the South China Sea. She ported at Guam on December 8. On December 22, 1945 she reported to Pearl Harbor for repairs.
Noted events for the PCE(R)-855 during W.W. II[edit | edit source]
- April 6, 1945, 1823 hours; the PCE(R)-855 was ordered to the location of the sinking USS Bush (DD-529), 51 miles away. She arrived on the scene and by 0205 hours she had picked up 17 USS Bush sailors, who had been floating in two life rafts. Three of these men were wounded, one with burns to the face and hands. Enemy aircraft was still in the area during the entire time of the mission.
- May 11, 1945. The PCE(R)-855 picked up wounded sailors from the USS Evans (DD-522) and the USS Ringness (APD-100).
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After repairs at Pearl Harbor the PCE(R)-855 was ordered to San Diego, California, for her new duties under the Navy Electronics Laboratory (NEL), arriving February 15, 1946. Later that year she was ordered to the Naval Shipyard at Terminal Island
in San Pedro, California. At the shipyard the PCE(R)-855 underwent several alterations including; its armament was removed and a heavy boom was installed at her stern. The boom was used to handle the equipment used for underwater sound experiments. These alterations made her more suitable for duty as a U.S. Navy research ship.
Due to the alterations, on June 7, 1946, the ship was reclassified as the EPCE(R)-855 which stood for Experimental Patrol Craft Escort (Rescue). In October of 1951 the EPCE(R)-855 was assigned to the 11th Naval District, for duty out of San Diego, still under the operational control of the NEL. She operated in coastal waters conducting additional scientific naval assignments.
On February 15, 1956 the ship was renamed the USS Rexburg.
In March of 1958 Univac delivered the AN/USQ-17, serial number 1, to the NEL's engineering site in San Diego. Two months later the site received the Collins data link terminals and HIGHCAPCOM radios. The NEL installed some of this equipment into the USS Rexburg for testing. This series of tests was a trial of the Naval Tactical Data System, which was the digital computerization of the U.S. Naval Fleet.
In October of 1959 the USS Rexburg came under the operational control of the Operational Test and Evaluation Force, Pacific Projects Division, where she continued her experiments in electronic, communication, navigational and underwater sound experiments. In December of 1964 the USS Rexburg was around 200 to 300 miles southwest of Los Angeles as part of a study of the effects of internal waves in a quasi-isothermal ocean surface layer.
On July 1, 1967 the USS Rexburg was shifted to the Cruiser-Destroyer Flotilla Nine of the Cruiser-Destroyer Force, Pacific. From August 9 to September 5, 1968 the USS Rexburg was in Hawaii as part of the Pacific Acoustic Research Kaneohe-Alaska (PARKA). This was another test of underwater sound transmission.
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On March 2, 1970, after nearly 26 years of naval service, the USS Rexburg was decommissioned and struck from the Naval registry. On October 28, 1970 the ship was sold as scrap to the National Metal and Steel Corporation, Terminal Island, California. This company was doing well by scrapping old military items and shipping the scarp metal to the Far East. The USS Rexburg, scrap metal!
The Church of Scientology stepped in and bought her, thus adding years to her life span. Read about her Sea Org service here - Excalibur's Sea Org History.
References for this article[edit | edit source]
- http://www.navsource.org/archives/12/02855.htm
- http://www.historycentral.com/navy/MISC/rexburg.html
- http://www.hazegray.org/danfs/patrol/pcer855.htm
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_US_Navy_hospital_ships
- http://www.ussbush.com/rscuship.htm
- http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf&AD=AD0517075
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