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{{Short description|PC 461 class submarine}}
{{Use American English|date=November 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2024}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=Wildwood PC-1181.jpg
|Ship caption=USS ''PC-1181'' off the coast of Belize, British Honduras before being decommissioned and named ''Wildwood''
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Ship country=United States
|Ship flag={{USN flag|1945}}
|Ship name=USS ''PC-1181''
|Ship builder=Gibbs Gas Engine Co., Jacksonville, Florida
|Ship original cost=$1,600,000<ref name="hazegraze">{{citation|url=http://www.hazegray.org/danfs/patrol/pc1181.htm|title=''Wild wood''|access-date=2008-12-20}}</ref>
|Ship laid down=5 October 1942
|Ship launched=15 April 1943
|Ship commissioned=17 September 1943
|Ship decommissioned=18 August 1946
|Ship renamed=15 February 1956
|Ship struck=1 April 1959
|Ship fate=Sold for scrap
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Ship class={{sclass|PC-461|submarine chaser|1}}
|Ship displacement=280 tons (light), 295 tons (full)
|Ship length={{convert|175|ft|m|abbr=off|sp=us}}
|Ship beam={{convert|23|ft|m|abbr=off|sp=us}}
|Ship draft={{convert|10|ft|10|in|m|abbr=off|sp=us}}
|Ship power=2 × Buda 844 six-cylinder diesels powering 60 KW — 120 volt DC generators<ref name="navysource2">{{citation|url=http://www.navsource.net/archives/12/011181s.htm|title=Stories from the PC-1181 by Bob Daly, MoMM2/c, PC-1181|access-date=2008-12-20}}</ref>
|Ship propulsion=2 × Hamilton R-99DA diesel engines<ref name="navysource2" />
|Ship speed=20 knots
|Ship endurance={{endurance|3000|nmi|km|12|knots|km/h}}
|Ship complement=*6 officers,
*53 enlisted
|Ship armament=*1 × [[3"/50 caliber gun|{{convert|3|in|mm|abbr=on}}/50 cal]]
*1 × [[Bofors 40 mm Automatic Gun L/60|40 mm gun]]
*3 × [[Oerlikon 20 mm cannon|20 mm cannon]]s
*2 × [[depth charge]] throwers
*2 × depth charge tracks<ref name="hazegraze" />
}}
|}
'''USS ''PC-1181''''' was a {{sclass|PC-461|submarine chaser}} built for the [[United States Navy]] during [[World War II]]. She was later renamed '''''Wildwood'' (PC-1181)''' but never saw active service under that name.

==Career==
''PC-1181'' was laid down on 5 October 1942 at Gibbs Gas Engine Co. in [[Jacksonville]], [[Florida]] and launched on 15 April 1943.<ref name="navysource">{{citation|url=http://www.navsource.net/archives/12/011181.htm|title=Submarine Chaser Photo Archive: Wildwood (PC 1181)|access-date=2008-12-20}}</ref> She was commissioned as USS ''PC-1181'' on 17 September 1943 at [[Charleston Navy Yard]] in [[Charleston, South Carolina|Charleston]], [[South Carolina]]. She was decommissioned on 18 August 1946 and given the name ''Wildwood'' on 15 February 1956.<ref name="navysource" /> She was never recommissioned and therefore did not have the [[United States Navy ships|USS]] prefix to her name while she was named ''Wildwood''.<ref name="navysource" /> She was struck from the [[Navy Register]] on 1 April 1956 and sold for scrap.<ref name="navysource" />

USS ''PC-1181'' was fitted out at the [[Charleston Navy Yard]] and then reported for [[shakedown cruise|shakedown]] training out of [[Miami]], [[Florida]] and later [[sonar]] and [[antisubmarine warfare]] training at the [[Fleet Sonar School]] at [[Key West]].<ref name="mavy.mil">{{citation|url=http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/w8/wildwood.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040401073022/http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/w8/wildwood.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=1 April 2004|title=''Wildwood''|access-date=2008-12-20}}</ref>

With her training complete, USS ''PC-1181'' set out from Key West to escort Convoy KN-275 to New York City on 6 November 1943. The convoy successfully arrived on 11 November, [[Armistice Day]].<ref name="mavy.mil" />

[[File:USS PC-1181 2.jpg|thumb|left|USS ''PC-1181'' moored in between USS ''PC-1208'' (left) and USS ''PC-1182'' (right) in the [[Panama Canal]].]]
The following week on 19 November, ''PC-1181'' was charged with escorting Convoy NG-399 to [[Guantanamo Bay Naval Base|Guantanamo Bay]], [[Cuba]]. One day out she suffered an oil leak and was put into [[Norfolk, Virginia]] to undergo repairs. The convoy proceeded without her.<ref name="mavy.mil" /> Two days later, with repairs completed, USS ''PC-1181'' resumed course and rejoined the convoy before it reached Guantanamo Bay on 27 November.<ref name="mavy.mil" />

On 30 November ''PC-1181'' set sail for New York with Convoy GN-99, reaching her destination on 6 December.<ref name="mavy.mil" /> She quickly set out to sea again, escorting Convoy NG-404 to Guantanamo Bay. She was tasked with breaking away from the convoy to escort a lagging merchant who had fallen behind from the rest of the convoy. ''PC-1181'' didn't reach her destination until 20 December.<ref name="mavy.mil" />

''PC-1181'' set sail for New York once again on Christmas Day and arrived on New Year's Day, 1944. On 6 January, she set out with Convoy NG-409 to Guantanamo Bay, but once again broke away to stand by a disabled merchant ship, ''SS Beta'' which had developed engine problems.<ref name="mavy.mil" /> After the merchant ship repaired her engines, both ships set course to rejoin the convoy. At 2132 hours on 12 January, ''PC-1181'''s sonar operators picked up a contact and began search operations.<ref name="mavy.mil" /> However, another submarine chaser, ''PC-618'' picked up an even stronger contact and ''PC-1181'' was called off her search to assist ''PC-618'' in her search. The search returned no results and both ships broke off the search to return to the convoy, completing the voyage on 15 January.<ref name="mavy.mil" />

''PC-1181'' continued escorting convoys between New York City and Guantanamo Bay. Her area of operation expanded to include convoys from Guantanamo Bay to the [[Panama Canal]] in May 1944.<ref name="mavy.mil" /> As the war in the Atlantic and Europe drew to a close in the spring of 1945, the convoy system was disbanded as the need for military escorts became obsolete.<ref name="mavy.mil"/>

[[File:USS PC-1181.jpg|thumb|left|USS ''PC-1181'' pumping out [[bilge water]].]]
With the convoy system no longer needed, ''PC-1181'' was reassigned to Submarine Squadron 3, serving as a target vessel during training missions for submarines operating in the Gulf of Mexico out of Panama. She continued operating in the gulf until the war with Japan ended in August 1945. With the war over, ''PC-1181'' was reassigned to the defense forces of the Panama Canal. She conducted patrols and training operations out of Panama until June 1946. She was ordered back to Key West, arriving there on 13 July. She was later decommissioned there on 18 August 1946.<ref name="navysource" />

As a decommissioned ship, ''PC-1181'' served as a training ship for the [[United States Navy Reserve|Naval Reserve]] units in Key West and [[St. Petersburg, Florida|St. Petersburg]], Florida, until 1950 when she was placed in reserve at [[Brownsville, Texas|Brownsville]], [[Texas]]. Later, she was shifted to the [[Atlantic Reserve Fleet]]'s berthing area at Norfolk, Virginia and was named ''Wildwood'' on 15 February 1956.<ref name="navysource" /> She was never commissioned as ''Wildwood''. She was struck from the Navy Register on 1 April 1959 and sold for scrap.<ref name="navysource" />

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{PC-461 class submarine chaser|3}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:PC-1181}}
[[Category:PC-461-class submarine chasers]]
[[Category:Ships built in Jacksonville, Florida]]
[[Category:1943 ships]]
[[Category:World War II patrol vessels of the United States]]

USS PC-1181 - Revision history

imported>Trappist the monk: switch http(s)://www.navsource.org → http://www.navsource.net or {{navsource}};