From: Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, V. 6, 1976, p. 529.
A town in western Maine, it is the county seat of Somerset County.
(PCE-843: dp. 903 (f.); l. 184'6"; b. 33'1"; dr. 9'5"; s. 15.7 k. (tl.); cpl. 99; a. 1 3", 6 40mm.; cl. PCE-842)
Skowhegan was laid down as PCE(R)-843 on 25 June 1943 by Pullman Standard Car Mfg. Co. of Chicago, Ill.; soon thereafter reclassified PCE-843; launched on 24 November 1943; and ferried to New Orleans where she was commissioned on 3 February 1944, Lt. (jg.) Charleton H. Collar, USNR, in command.
On 20 March 1944, PCE-843 completed shakedown out of Miami, Fla. The next day she departed Miami for Trinidad, B.W.I., and convoy duty with the 4th Fleet. She escorted shipping between Trinidad and Recife, Brazil until early December. On 11 December 1944, she arrived in Key West, Fla., for an overhaul to prepare for duty in the Pacific.
On 21 January 1945, PCE-843 sailed from Key West and, three days later arrived at Coco Solo, C.Z., from whence she departed on 1 February. She arrived at Bora Bora, Society Islands, on the 16th and set out the following day for New Guinea and arrived at Hollandia on 3 March. There she joined the screen of a convoy bound for Kossol Passage in the Palau Islands. After seeing her charges safely into Kossol Passage on 12 March, PCE-843 got underway on the 13th for Leyte Gulf in the Philippines. She arrived at San Pedro Bay on the 16th and sailed on the 25th with a convoy headed for Sansapor, New Guinea. She returned to Leyte on 9 April, then departed for Lingayen Gulf, Luzon, on the 17th. Upon arrival there, she was assigned duty as escort and antisubmarine warfare ship until 12 June. Two days later, she reported to the Commander of the Philippine Sea Frontier for duty as a weather ship.
In the summer of 1946, PCE-843 returned to the Atlantic - via Pearl harbor; San Pedro, Calif.; and the Panama canal - and arrived in Norfolk on 29 June 1946. For the next nine years, she ranged the length of the Atlantic seaboard, from Nova Scotia in the north to the Caribbean in the south. In March 1955, PCE-843 was placed out of commission, in reserve, and berthed at Boston, Mass.
Named Skowhegan on 15 February 1956, she remained in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet at Boston until 1 July 1960. At that time, she was declared excess to the needs of the Navy; and her name was struck from the Navy list.
Transcribed by Richard H. Bouchard.