USS PCS-1405

"USC&GS Bowie" redirects here. For the U.S. Navy attack transport, see USS Bowie (APA-137).

USS PCS-1405 was a United States Navy minesweeper in commission from 1944 to 1946. She saw service in the latter stages of World War II.

USS PCS-1405 in San Francisco Bay, California, c. 1945-46
History
United States Navy
Name	USS PC-1405
Builder	Greenport Basin and Construction Company, Greenport, New York
Laid down	1 May 1943
Renamed	USS PCS-1405, April 1943
Reclassified	Patrol craft sweeper (PCS), April 1943
Launched	21 August 1943
Commissioned	1 February 1944
Decommissioned	August 1946
Stricken	February 1947
Fate	Transferred to U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey 3 October 1946
History
U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey
Name	USC&GS Bowie (CSS 27)
Namesake	Captain William Bowie (1872–1940), U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey Corps officer
Acquired	3 October 1946
Commissioned	3 October 1946
Decommissioned	1 February 1967
Fate	Sold 1967
General characteristics
Class and type	PCS-1376-class minesweeper
Displacement	245 tons light; 338 tons full load
Length	136 ft (41 m)
Beam	24 ft 6 in (7.47 m)
Draft	8 ft 7 in (2.62 m)
Propulsion	2 × 880 bhp General Motors 8-268A diesel engines, Knobstedt single reduction gear 2 shafts
Speed	14.1 knots (26.1 km/h)
Complement	57
Armament	1 × 3"/50 caliber gun mount 1 × 20 mm gun mount 4 × depth charge projectors 4 × Hedgehog 2 × depth charge tracks

After her Navy service, she was transferred to the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, where she saw service as the coastal survey ship USC&GS Bowie (CSS 27) from 1946 to 1967.

Construction and commissioning

The ship was laid down as PC-1405 on 1 May 1943 by the Greenport Basin and Construction Company in Greenport, New York. Reclassified as a "patrol craft sweeper" (PCS) in April 1943 and redesignated PCS-1405, she was launched on 21 August 1943 and commissioned as USS PCS-1405 on 1 February 1944.

United States Navy service

PCS-1450 made a shakedown cruise in the Caribbean Sea, then operated between southern Florida, and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as a patrol and escort ship until June 1945. She then was transferred to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, where she served until February 1946 before returning to the United States.

After undergoing conversion into a survey ship, PCS-1405 was decommissioned in August 1946 and transferred to the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey the same month. She was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register in February 1947.

United States Coast and Geodetic Survey service

The U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey commissioned the vessel on 3 October 1946 as the coastal survey ship USC&GS Bowie (CSS 27). Bowie served on hydrographic survey duties along the United States West Coast and in Alaska until 1 February 1967, when she was decommissioned. She was sold in 1967.

Fate

Bowie's later fate is unclear. She was photographed as recently as 2003 as MV Bowie in Slatery Bay near Powell River, British Columbia, Canada. As of at least 2005, an effort was underway to preserve her as an historic ship, billing her as the last surviving PCS-type ship.

External links

• Photo gallery of USS PC-1405, USC&GS Bowie (CSS 27), and MV Bowie
• aquantri.com Photos of MV Bowie at restoration Web site

USC&GS Bowie (CSS 27) off San Francisco, California, with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background.