U S NAVY 4th FLEET AT RECIFE - SHIP INDEX PC PCE PG PY PYC
36)PG 65 PATROL GUNBOAT
Photo. www.navsource.org By Joe Radigan
Laid down by Harland and Wolff, Ltd., Belfast, Northern Ireland for the French Navy
Taken over by the Royal Navy with the fall of France and named HMS Arabis (K 73)
Launched 14 February 1940
Transferred to the U.S. Navy 30 April 1942 under the Reverse Lend-Lease Program at Belfast and commissioned USS Spry (PG-65) the same day
Decommissioned 20 August 1945 at Chatham, EnglandReturned to the Royal Navy 25 August 1945 and recommissioned into Royal Navy as HMS Snapdragon (K 73)
Struck from the Navy Register 17 September 1945
Sold into merchantile service in 1947 and renamed SS Katina Renamed SS Tewfik in 1950
Fate unknown.
Displacement 1,375 t.
Length 205' 2".
Beam 33'.
Draft 14' 7".
Speed 16.5 kts.
Complement 87.
Armament one 4"/50 gun mount, one 3"/50 dual purpose gun mount, two 20mm gun mounts and two dct.
Propulsion: Two 225 psi Scotch boilers, one 2,750 ihp Harland and Wolff verticle triple expansion engine, one shaft.
On 29 June 1942, she arrived at Key West and commenced escort duty in the Caribbean, initially convoying ships between Trinidad and Barbados. In September, she shifted to the Trinidad-Guantanamo convoy route and, in January 1943, to the Trinidad-Recife, Brazil, route. In May 1943, she assisted in the salvage of a torpedoed tanker, towing the ship into port and participating in repair operations for the next two weeks.
