HMCo #500p APc85

"Model of AMc Mine Sweepers [preceding two words crossed out and replaced with] Transports, Apr[il] 1942.
Scale 3/8" = 1.
Templets[sic] made from Bureau of Ships Plans 446519 [and] 446513 and Eldridge-McInnis.
Design No. 287-C-728 Plan No 1.
In order to come fair the model differs from lines as follows:
Waterlines are fuller amidships with more tumble home.
Buttocks are raised forward of sternpost, deadwood faired.
Frame spaces 18.4".
Stations are 3-frame spaces or 4.6', except # 11 - # 11A which is 4-frame spaces or 6.132'.
Deduct 2 3/4" for planking.
Deduct 2 7/8" for deck.
Load W.L. is 10'-0" above base.
Stem as per Eldridge-McInnis plan E-McI. Hull No. 274, Sheet 1.
Bureau of Ships Plan No. 446513." (Source: Herreshoff, A. Sidney DeW.? [Penciled note in Offset Booklet HH.4.082.] Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection, MIT Museum, Cambridge, MA.)

"Mrs. Stephen Hopkins, of Bristol, using the traditional bottle of champagne, christened another APC-boat for the United States Navy wen it was launched at the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company in that town Friday [March 12, 1943] noon. Several hundred employees watched the ceremony. [Though not identified by name, #500p APc85 is clearly identified by its launching date.]" (Source: Anon. "Patrol Craft Launching." Newport Mercury and Weekly News, March 19, 1943, p. 6.)

"APc-1 Class Small Coastal Transport
Laid down, date unknown, by Herreshoff Boatbuilding
Launched, date unknown
Commissioned USS APc-85, date unknown
Decommissioned, date unknown
Transferred to Ecuador, circa 1943, named BAE Cinco de Junio, later renamed El Oro
Struck from the Naval Register, date unknown
Final Disposition, fate unknown
Specifications:
Displacement 100 t.(lt) 234 t.(fl)
Length 103'
Beam 21' 3"
Draft 9' 3"
Speed 10kts
Complement 3 officers, 22 enlisted
Armament four single 20mm AA gun mounts
Propulsion one National Supply Corp. diesel engine, single propeller 400shp." (Source: http://www.navsource.org/archives/09/23/23085.htm, retrieved March 29, 2011.)

"Class: APC-1
Design: Navy APC-1
Displacement (tons): 161 light, 258 lim.
Dimensions (feet): 103.25' oa, 98.2' wl x 21.25' e x 9.25' lim.
Original Armament: 4-20mm single
Later armaments: 2-20mm single (1943: APc 87-90, 93-98, 110-111)
Complement: 21 (1944)
Speed (kts.): 10
Propulsion (HP): 400
Machinery: Diesel, 1 screw
...
APc-85; [contracted: ] 2 Sep 42; [builder: ] Herreshoff Mfg; [keel laid: ] 28 Sep 42; [launched: ] 12 Mar 43; [commissioned: ] 28 Apr 43; [decommissioned: ] 25 May 43; [struck: ] 7 Jun 49; [disposed: ] 25 May 43; [fate: ] Transferred; [MA sale: ] --; [note: ] Trf. to Ecuador under Lend Lease as CINCO DE JUNIO. USN decomm. est. Returned and sold by FLC to Ecuador 13 May 49. Renamed EL ORO ca. 1951, stk. 1961 and scrapped.
...
Of this large class, only ten units, APc 85-94, were assigned to the Atlantic Fleet. One was transferred to Ecuador, and the others were soon relegated to use as personnel ferries for local naval facilites and eventually disarmed, placed out of commission and put in service with reduced crews as district craft. In July 1945 their passenger capacity was set at 250 persons (with the addition of ballast and removal of armament), and in this role they were found to be much more suitable than LCIL's or LCM's. In September 1945 CinCLant wanted to use two at Bermuda, one at Newport, and six at Casco Bay, Maine. These were the only vessels of this class to see postwar service. ..." (Source: Roberts, Stephen S. "Class: APC-1." Compiled October 26, 2008. http://www.shipscribe.com/usnaux/APC/APC01.html, retrieved October 25, 2011.)

"Twenty-two of these 'jacks of all trades' were built between October 1942 and July 1943 --- with an average of nearly one of these 103-footers each week. Each cost $145,750, and they appear to have been contracted for in two batches, with the lead ship [#425p] of the class (APc 1) included in the first batch of ten; APc 85 [#500p] through APc 96 [#511p] constituted the second batch. It was an impressive rate of production, especially so because the APcs were built concurrently with eight 71-foot British Vosper torpedo boats, which were built in the South Construction Shop." (Source: Bray, Maynard and Carlton Pinheiro. Herreshoff of Bristol. Brooklin, Maine, 1989, p. 226-227.)

Year: 1943
E/P/S: P
No.: 500p
Name: APc85
OA: 103' 2 1/2"
LW: 98' 1 1/2"

Source: Vermilya, Peter and Maynard Bray. "Transcription of the HMCo. Construction Record." Unpublished database, ca. 2000.

Note: The transcription of the HMCo Construction Record by Peter Vermilya and Maynard Bray was performed independently (and earlier) than that by Claas van der Linde. A comparison of the two transcriptions can be particularly useful in those many cases where the handwriting in the Construction Record is difficult to decipher.

"The design of the APc Coastal Transport Class was based on that of the Eldredge McInnis-designed 93ft AMc Minesweeper, lengthened by a 6ft plug. [Information based on a plaque at the Herreshoff Marine Museum.]" (Source: van der Linde, Claas. December 14, 2008.)

"Exported to Ecuador in 1943." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. March 29, 2011.)

"Built in 191 days (contract to launch; equivalent to $761/day, 1173 lbs displacement/day)." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. January 16, 2024.)

"[Displacement 100 long tons.]" (Source: http://www.navsource.org/archives/09/23/23009.htm, retrieved March 29, 2011.)

Note: Research notes contain information about a vessel that is often random and unedited but has been deemed useful for future research.