Service History
PT-658 was one of a group of PT boats assigned to MTB Squadron 45 in April 1945, for transfer to the USSR under Lend-Lease. By the time she was completed on July 30, 1945, this transfer had been cancelled. PT-658 was transported to Bremerton on the deck of LST-375 from New Orleans along with PT-657, PT-659, and PT-660, arriving on Sept 25, 1945. PT-658 was then stationed at Port Hueneme, California, where on August 27, 1946, she was reclassified as a Small Boat and renumbered C105343 to serve as a missile range patrol boat. On December 3, 1948, she was reclassified as Floating Equipment. PT-658 was then transferred to Naval Air Station Point Mugu, reclassified as RCT-13, and used for patrolling the Point Mugu missile test range for stray craft into the missile landing area, and for towing targets. Also during this period, PT-658 served twice a week as a high speed transport, carrying men and supplies to the USAF D.E.W. Radar Station on Santa Rosa Island, off the coast of Los Angeles in the Channel Island Group. PT-658's survival has been attibuted to her completion late in the war, and that she was never sent overseas.
On June 30, 1958, PT-658 was sold to a private individual in the Oakland and Alameda, California area and renamed Porpoise. The private owner changed very little of her structure during the time he owned her. In 1993, she was donated by the late owner's estate to the veterans of Save the PT Boat, Inc. of Portland, Oregon. PT-658 was transported from Alameda to Portland in May 1994 on the deck of the Washington State Army National Guard ship, General Brehan V. Summerville (LSV-3).
Read more about this topic: Motor Torpedo Boat PT-658
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