Ida K SC-1282
- Type:
- submarine chaser, later trawler, scallop boat, USA
- Built:
- 1943, Elizabeth City NC USA
- Specs:
- ( 112 x 18 ft ) 99 gross tons
- Sunk:
- ???
- Depth:
- 90 ft
The Ida K was a World War II subchaser, SC-1282, launched from the Elizabeth City Shipyard, Elizabeth City NC in February 1943. SC-1282 participated in Operation Overlord - the invasion of Normandy in June 1944. Shallow-draft subchasers were used for forward control of the landings, and so would have been very much in harm's way. Who ever thought this scattering of junk had that kind of history!
SC-497 Class Submarine Chaser
- Laid down 7 December 1942 as PC-1282 by the Elizabeth City Shipyards, Elizabeth City, NC
- Launched 6 February 1943
- Reclassified SC-1282 in April 1943
- Commissioned 14 May 1943 under the command of LTJG Charles K. Peters, USNR
- Decommissioned 15 August 1945
- Transferred to the Maritime Commision 5 September 1946
- Acquired in 1947 by Sidney R. Smith of Greenport, Long Island, NY for use as a fishing boat and named Malice
- Acquired in 1950 by Adolf K. Miller of Greenport, Long Island
- Acquired in 1953 by William J. Kleb of Greenport and renamed Ida K.
- Reacquired in 1957 by Sidney R. Smith
- Acquired in 1967 by the Ida Boat Corp. of Greenport
- Acquired in 1977 by Bruce Reinertsen of Bricktown, NJ
- Out of documentation in 1989
- Fate unknown.
Specifications:
- Displacement: 148 t.
- Length: 110' 10"
- Beam: 17'
- Draft: 6' 6"
- Speed: 15.6 kts.
- Complement: 28
- Armament: One 40mm mount, two .50 cal. machine guns, two depth charge projector "K Guns," two sets Mk 20 Mousetrap rails with four 7.2 projectiles and two depth charge tracks
- Propulsion: Two 880bhp General Motors 8-268A diesel engines, Snow and Knobstedt single reduction gear, two shafts.
Malice - now there's a great name for a boat.
Ida K was brought to Point Pleasant in 1977 for use as a trawler and scallop boat at the beginning of the New Jersey scallop boom. By this time the vessel was already well-worn and near the end of its life. It was re-powered with twin inline-6 diesels, but the old wooden hull was leaky and decrepit, and the strain of trawling finished it. The vessel was deliberately sunk by its owner. ( Making it technically an illegal artificial reef - you can't just take a ship out and sink it. ) Of course, no record of the sinking date, but out of registry by 1989.
On the wreck site there are many metal pieces scattered around and on the remains of a metal-sheathed wood hull. There are several large box-like steel fuel tanks. The wreck contains a great deal of interesting, if worthless, debris.
The valuable engines and propellers were removed prior to sinking. You can still identify the propeller shafts and associated hardware, including the external shaft bracing. One rudder lies on top, with a shaft passing through a waterproof packing, ending in a tiller arm.
The wreck lies north-south, in as much as it lies in any direction, and which end is the bow is anyone's guess. The bottom is reasonably clean sand, heavily furrowed. Lobster holes are everywhere, and the Ida K produces surprisingly well for such a small wreck. Look for a nice one between the aforementioned cylinders; good luck getting it out. But like any small wreck, a couple of visits could easily wipe it out. No notable fish life when I dived it, so probably not a good wreck for spearfishing.
Historical information courtesy of Brad Anderson, who sailed on her in the seventies.
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