Andalusia-PC-1173

Andalusia

A city in southern Alabama, the seat of government for Covington County.

(PC-1173: dp. 280; 1. 173'8"; b. 23'0"; dr. 10'10"; s. 20.2 k. (tl.); cpl. 65; a. 13", 1 40mm., 3 20mm., 2 dcp., 2 dct.; cl. PC-461)

PC-1173 was laid down on 21 A pril 1943 at Sturgeon Bay, shipbuilding Co.; launched on 26 Wis., by the Leathern D. Smith Ship June 1943; ferried down to New Orleans; and was commissioned there on 1 November 1943, Lt. William C. French, USNR, in command.

In mid-November, after shakedown training out of Miami, Fla., the submarine chaser began operations out of Key West Fla., escorting convoys among various ports along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. On 16 February 1944, she was reassigned to duty escorting convoys between New York and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Following brief repairs at Norfolk early in July, PC-1173 departed that port as a part of Task Force (TF) 61, bound for service in the Mediterranean Sea.

In August, she joined TF 84 for the invasion of southern France. On the 15th, the submarine chaser was off the southern coast of France just to the west of Golfe de St. Tropez operating as a control ship for landing craft. She suffered somewhat from small arms and machinegun fire , and one sailor was wounded slightly by a ricochet, she was serving as escort and station ship at Marsielles France, under the control of the Commander, 8th Amphibious Force.

That assignment lasted until mid-October when she moved to Palermo, Sicily, for local patrol duty. PC-1173 cruised the waters along the northern coast of Sicily until 14 February 1945 when her base was changed to Leghorn, Italy, for two months of duty escorting convoys between Leghorn and Marseilles. On 15 April, she became a unit of Amphibious Group 10, assigned to North African waters and based at Oran, Algeria.

PC-1 173 stood out of Oran on 27 May 1945. Touching at the Azores and Bermuda, the small ship arrived at Key West on 14 June and, three days later, began a major overhaul. PC-1173 conducted post-overhaul refresher training out of Miami and arrived at Norfolk on 11 September. Here the submarine chaser had most of her ordnance removed in preparation for air-sea rescue work in the North Atlantic. She departed Norfolk on 25 September; arrived at Argentia Newfoundland, on the 29th; and spent the next six weeks there on ready status. On 8 November, PC-11 73 stood out of Argentia and reached Boston on Armistice Day, 1945.

She later moved south to Green Cove Springs, Fla., where she began preparations for inactivation. PC-1 173 was decommissioned in March 1946 and berthed at Green Cove Springs with the Atlantic Reserve Fleet. She remained in reserve for a little more than 14 years. She was named Andalusia on 15 February 1956. Her name was struck from the Navy list on I July 1960. She performed her last service to the Navy on 23 November 1965 when aircraft from the nation's newest aircraft carrier, America (CVA-66), sank her as a target some 200 miles due east of Cape Charles, Va.

Andalusia received one battle star for World War II service as PC-1 173.