page_title: USS PC-1264
section_title: Commanding officers and POs
hierarchical_section_title: USS PC-1264 / Career / Commanding officers and POs
caption_attribution_description: English: Commissioning of USS PC-1264. Lt. Eric Purdon (at microphone), PC 1264 's first commanding officer, reads the official orders directing him to assume command.
context_page_description: USS PC-1264 was a PC-461-class submarine chaser built for the United States Navy during World War II. She was one of only two U.S. Navy ships to have a predominantly African-American enlisted complement during the war, the other being the Evarts-class destroyer escort USS Mason.
  PC-1264 was in service for less than two years, but the performance of her crew—and of USS Mason's—led the U.S. Navy to reevaluate its perception of African Americans as members of the fleet. Although sold for scrapping, the ship remains at the Donjon Marine Yard in Rossville, Staten Island.
context_section_description: White officer Lieutenant Eric S. Purdon served as PC-1264's commanding officer from her commissioning on 25 April 1944 until 17 September 1945. He was replaced by his engineering officer, Lieutenant (jg) Ernest V. Hardman,  who served as skipper until 31 October 1945. The third commanding officer was Lieutenant (jg) Jack W. Sutherland who came aboard on 31 October and helped decommission PC-1264 on 7 February 1946.
  From that point, until PC-1264 was out of service, she was in the charge of African American Ensign Samuel L. Gravely, Jr. Ensign Gravely had first reported aboard on 2 May 1945, and, at the time of the ship's decommissioning, was serving as her executive officer. PC-1264 was the first sailing assignment of future Admiral Gravely, the first African American to attain that rank.
  In addition to the all-white officer complement, until the day Ensign Gravely reported aboard, eight white navy Petty Officers (PO), one in each specialty required on PC-1264, were also assigned to the ship. Their job was to train the African-American crew until Lt. Purdon considered some of the men expert enough in their specialty to rate promotion to petty officer. Months later, when eight African-American crewmen were promoted in their specialties, the white petty officers were transferred. This made PC-1264 the only U.S. Navy ship with a completely African-American crew, as USS Mason never replaced its white petty officers with African Americans.
caption: Lt. Eric Purdon, the ship's first commanding officer, reads the official orders directing him to assume command.
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