Plotarhis Blessas
In a recent comment Leonardos B uploaded this exceptionally rare ad from Nautika Xronika of 1946
BL.jpg
But which ship was Plotarhis Blessas? Of course the well known ship of the Greek navy! She was built in the USA in 1944 as gun boat PC-1559 but became well known as PGM-28. She had 284 tons and a length of 52,9 m with an impressive speed of 20 knots
According to Miramar
The well known Naval Resources center gives http://www.navsource.org/archives/12/11028.htmSingle Ship Report for "6121945"
IDNo: 6121945 Year: 1945
Name: PGM-28 Launch Date: 19.11.44
Type: Patrol craft Date of completion: 9.4.45
Flag: USA Keel: 25.9.44
Tons: 284 Link:
DWT: 450 Yard No:
Length overall: 52.9 Ship Design:
LPP: Country of build: USA
Beam: 7.0 Builder: Consolidated SB
Material of build: Location of yard: Morris Heights
Number of screws/Mchy/
Speed(kn): 2D-20
Owner as Completed: U.S.Navy
End: 1963
Subsequent History: [LD as PC-1559] - 47 PLOTARKHIS BLESSAS
Disposal Data:stricken 1963
Now parts of this summary cannot be believed as she was in Greece already in 1946. Unless she was "under loan" and this explains this "British Corporation" mention. Be that as it may, she was doing Piraeus-Volos-Thessaloniki for passengers in 1946!PGM-9 Class Motor Gunboat: Laid down 25 June 1944 as PC-1559 by the Consolidated Shipbuilding Corp., New York, NY; Reclassified as a Motor Gunboat, PGM-28; Launched, 19 November 1944; Commissioned PGM-28, 9 April 1945. During WW II, PGM-28 received one battle star for minesweeping operations in the Honshu [Japan] area between 11 - 27 September 1945. Returned from the Philippines with one stop in Pearl Harbor, through the Panama Canal to New Orleans, LA and then to Norfolk, VA for refitting and decommissioning. Decommissioned 10 February 1948 at Norfolk and transferred to Greece as Plotarkhis Blessas (P 61); Struck from the Greek Navy list in 1963 and scrapped. Specifications: Displacement 280 t. (lt), 450 t. (fl); Length 173' 8"; Beam 23'; Draft 10' 10"; Speed 20.2 kts.; Complement 65; Armament one 3"/50 dual purpose gun mount, one twin 40-mm, six 20mm guns, four twin .50 cal. machine gun; Propulsion two 2,880bhp General Motors 16-278A diesel engines, Farrel-Birmingham single reduction gear, two shafts.
And here is a vintage photo
PGM 28 Blessas.jpg
NB: Plotarhis Blessas was the heroic Captain of Vassilissa Olga that sunk in Lakki Lerou in 1943 (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_d...ssa_Olga_(D_15))
It is truly sad that in the Greek Google there is not even one entry for "πλωτάρχης Μπλέσσας" PGM 28 or "πλωτάρχης Μπλέσσας" PC 1559... How soon do we forget... And in the official Greek Navy entry, old "auxiliary ships" are not listed any more.. Just corvettes, frigates, etc