page_title: USS PC-552
section_title: Decommissioning and fate
hierarchical_section_title: USS PC-552 / Decommissioning and fate
caption_attribution_description: English: Lt. (jg) R.E. Gleason, Commanding Officer The last signature of the last Commanding Officer of the USS PC-552. This is the signature which decommissioned the ship.
context_page_description: USS PC-552 was a class-461 patrol craft that was at the forefront of the naval efforts during the Normandy invasion. It served as convoy protection in the North Atlantic and as one of about ten PC control vessels off Omaha Beach during the Normandy invasion. PC-552 was among the first ships to reach waters off Omaha Beach. PC-552, primary control vessel for Fox Green sector of the beach, was forced into rescue efforts and recovery of bodies at the departure line for Fox Green when the Duplex Drive tanks that survived the initial disastrous launch were swamped at the line with only two surviving. The PC was diverted into this effort for forty-five minutes and ultimately only five tanks, the two that survived the launch disaster and three that were aboard LCT-600 whose commander raised his ramp when the first off foundered and instead landed them on the beach, reached the beach.
  PC-552 remained in European waters until 6 June 1945, where after a ceremony commemorating the events of the previous year on that date, a convoy of PCs departed for the Atlantic crossing.
context_section_description: On 18 April 1946, the decommissioning party came aboard under LTJG Wells, USNR, to make final inspection at 0900. At 1100 the ship was under tow to an anchorage in Wando River, Charleston. At 1650, PC-552 was moored alongside PC-1214. At 1705, LTJG Gleason placed the ship out of commission in accordance with Com 6 letter of 18 April 1946, Serial PC/A4-1/NB.
  On 17 May 1946, ex-PC-552 was deemed non-essential and authority was given to dispose of the vessel. On 5 June 1946, the ship was stricken from the Navy register. On 5 December 1946, ex-PC-552 was delivered to the U.S. Maritime Commission, the predecessor to the Maritime Administration (MARAD), Port Representative at Charleston, South Carolina, "for disposal per Base 6ND letter" dated 05 Dec 1946. No record has been found as to her ultimate destiny. The Maritime Administration has no record of ever receiving the ship. There is no record of her being sold or transferred to a foreign country as many of the PCs were. There is no record of her being sold to private hands. The Maritime Administration did not keep records of what happened to these ships after they were sold, for those which were sold. Many were cut up for scrap and that was probably her fate. Research continues.
caption: LtJG R.E. Gleason, Commanding Officer
  
   The last signature of the last Commanding Officer of USS PC-552. This is the signature which decommissioned the ship.
  
  Source: Deck Log April 1946
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