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USN Submarine Chasers - Patrol Craft Escort/Rescue (PCE) & EPCE(R)


Salvage Sailor
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Salvage Sailor

Aloha Everyone,

 

This will be a small category with examples of items from USN Submarine Chasers and Escort Patrol Craft (not to be confused with Patrol Frigates, Gunboats & Hydrofoils).  Members, please feel free to post your own items.

 

SUB CHASER TRAINING CENTER - Miami, Florida 1944 "The Donald Duck Navy" (nice Woody too)

 

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Donald Duck WWII Subchaser (PC) on cardstock, circa 1944, Miami Beach, Florida

 

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Donald Duck (PC) patch circa 1944 from a Sub-Chaser Veteran's scrapbook

 

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Colored cardstock and patch, U.S. NAVY SUB CHASER TRAINING CENTER, Miami, Florida 1944

 

1096866159_PCDonaldDuckpatch002.jpg.46c28ad17604b4011cc76690da6be5b8.jpg

Pulled from a scrapbook

 

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Salvage Sailor

USS MARYSVILLE (EPCE[R] 857) PCER-848 Class Patrol Craft Escort (Rescue) in service 1945 to 1970

 

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After shakedown along the coast of Florida, PCE(R)857 steamed to the Canal Zone 31 July for duty in the Pacific. She transited the canal 2 August, reached Pearl Harbor the 19th; and on the 29th began escort duty under ComServRon 2. Following the Japanese surrender, she operated out of Pearl Harbor among the islands of the central Pacific. Thence in 1946 she returned to the west coast and underwent conversion to an underwater sound laboratory ship at Long Beach. During her 6-month conversion, all armament was removed and laboratory spaces, transducer columns, and a 5-ton capacity boom were installed. She reclassified E-PCER-857 on 22 March 1947 and began duty in support of the Pacific Projects Division of the Operational Test and Evaluation Force, conducting underwater sound experiments off the coasts of California and Mexico until July 1949.

 

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c. 1969
Towing a thermistor chain which measured the thermocline down to a depth of 800 meters. The ship spent most of 1969 towing this thing at 5 knots from Seattle, [WA] to Kodiak, [AK] to Hawaii and back.  Note the Towing Balls & Diamond hoisted on the ships' halyards & depicted on the patch.

 

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Converted Sub-Chaser (Rescue) Reclassified as an Experimental Patrol Craft Escort (Rescue), EPCE(R)-857, 22 March 1947

 

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Plaque from my collection oriented in the proper North/South perspective

 

OPERATIONAL TEST AND EVALUATION FORCE (OPTEVAL)

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857 USS MARYSVILLE San Francisco 1958 001.jpg

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14 hours ago, Salvage Sailor said:

Quite possibly a  WWII South West Patrol 110' Sub-Chaser patch posted on the forum by Irish

 

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USMF Topic here -->  An interesting patch PT-110 or 110' Sub Chaser?

 

I was told by the fellow from whom I received this patch that SWP stood for South West Pass or something to that effect….This was referring too the navigation passage in an out of the Mississippi into the Gulf of Mexico…. Early in the war U Boats would sit in the Gulf near this passage to hunt merchant vessel’s….. Interesting topic.

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Salvage Sailor

PCE(R)-848 Class Patrol Craft Escort (Rescue):
Originally planned as PCE-852 but reclassified PCE(R)-852 in June 1943
Laid down 28 October 1943 by the Pullman Standard Car Manufacturing Co., Chicago, IL
Launched 1 March 1944
Commissioned USS PCE(R)-852, 26 May 1944 at New Orleans, LA
Reclassified as an Experimental Patrol Craft Escort (Rescue), EPCE(R)-852 in 1946
Named Brattleboro 15 February 1956
Decommissioned 1 November 1965 at Philadelphia, PA and struck from the Navy list
Transferred to South Vietnam 11 July 1966 and renamed Ngoc Hoi (HQ-12)
Escaped to the Philippines in 1975 after the fall of South Vietnam
Renamed RPS Miguel Malvar (PS 19)

Still afloat as of 2015

 

An interesting WWII history on this ship.  The U-505 capture in the Atlantic, Leyte Gulf, assisting the stricken HONOLULU, Luzon, Palaus, Okinawa on the Kamikaze picket line ("Over the next 91 days, the subchaser treated over 200 badly wounded men and rescued in excess of 1,000 survivors of ships that sank...")

 

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USS BRATTLEBORO (PCER-852)
 

PCER-852 was laid down on 28 October 1943 at Chicago, Ill., by the Pullman Standard Car Manufacturing Co.; launched on 1 March 1944; and commissioned at New Orleans, La., on 26 May 1944, Lt. Henry J. Irwin, USNR, in command.

 

On 6 and 7 June, PCER-852 made the voyage from New Orleans to Miami, Fla. For the next month, she conducted shakedown and antisubmarine training out of Miami. On 7 July, the warship departed Miami on her way to Bermuda, and arrived at her destination on the 10th. She spent the rest of the month engaged in training and patroling. On 1 August, PCER-852 stood out of Bermuda bound for Norfolk with 26 prisoners of war sailors from the German submarine U-505, captured in June by a “hunter-killer” group formed around escort carrier Guadalcanal (CVE-60) under the command of Rear Admiral Daniel V. Gallery.

 

She headed back to Bermuda on 7 August and operated in the vicinity until 20 August when she shaped a course for the Pacific. Proceeding via the Panama Canal, PCER-852 reached Pearl Harbor on 15 September. Later that month, she moved on to Manus in the Admiralty Islands, one of the staging points for the invasion of the Philippines. On 11 October, the submarine chaser stood out of Manus with Task Group (TG) 79.5, the LST flotilla attached to Vice Admiral Theodore S. Wilkinson's Southern Attack Force. Her task organization moved into Leyte Gulf on the morning of 20 October.

 

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PCER-852 anchored some 2,000 yards off the invasion beaches at Dulag in a position to render immediate first aid to casualties. Her first opportunity came at about 1600 that afternoon when a Japanese torpedo bomber scored a hit on Honolulu (CL-48). She and sistership PCER-851 went alongside the stricken cruiser and began removing the wounded. The subchaser's medical staff rendered first aid and then transferred the casualties to a hospital ship for evacuation. The next day, she closed the shore to a distance of about 1,000 yards where she began receiving wounded soldiers from the fighting on Leyte. Over the next month, the ship received and treated about 400 men and then moved them on to the better-equipped hospital ships.

 

In the meantime, her gunners participated in the air defense of the ships in Leyte Gulf and claimed to have splashed an enemy plane on 26 October.

On 23 November, the subchaser took departure from Leyte Gulf to return to Manus for repairs. She arrived at her destination on 29 November. While she underwent repairs in drydock, her crew enjoyed rest and relaxation ashore. On 11 December, PCER 852 set sail as part of the escort for a reinforcement convoy bound for the stubborn campaign still being prosecuted in the Palau Islands. After six days, she was relieved of that escort mission and was assigned another convoy bound for Leyte. The warship and her charges entered San Pedro Bay, Leyte, on 20 December. For about two weeks, she conducted ASW patrols in Leyte Gulf and provided escort services for the forces occupying some of the lesser islands of the Philippines.

 

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PCER-852 steamed out of San Pedro Bay on 4 January 1945 to join the tremendous fleet slated to assault the island of Luzon at Lingayen Gulf. She entered the gulf on the morning of 9 January, S-day for the amphibious operation. The troops went ashore at 0930, however, during the Lingayen attack, the bulk of the casualties she treated came from ships and craft in the gulf subjected to both conventional air attacks and fanatical kamakaze suicide dives. Completing her mission at Lingayen late in January, PCER-852 returned to Leyte, refueled, and put to sea again to escort a convoy to Ulithi Atoll in the Western Carolines. She arrived at her destination on 6 February and began an availability.

 

PCER-852 remained at Ulithi through February and most of March repairing and preparing for the last campaign of the war--the invasion of Okinawa. On 27 March, the warship began the voyage to the Ryukyu Islands. After the Army and Marine Corps troops went ashore on 1 April, the campaign split into two distinct battles--the ground war ashore and the aerial onslaught on the invasion fleet. In large measure, PCER-852's rescue and first aid services were directed toward the crews of the stricken ships around Okinawa. Over the next 91 days, the subchaser treated over 200 badly wounded men and rescued in excess of 1,000 survivors of ships that sank. On 30 June, she departed the Ryukyus and then steamed via Saipan to Pearl Harbor.

 

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INFARED SNOOPER - TONIGHT'S SECRET TOMORROW'S SUCCESS

Reclassified as an Experimental Patrol Craft Escort (Rescue), EPCE(R)-852 in 1946 and Named Brattleboro 15 February 1956

 

PCER-852 arrived at Oahu on 19 July and began an extended repair period that lasted through the end of the war and into the fall of 1945.

The subchaser stood out of Pearl Harbor on 17 October 1945 and began the long voyage to the Atlantic coast of the United States. She spent the remainder of 1945 with the Atlantic Reserve Fleet at Green Cove Springs, Fla.--though remaining in commission. Early in 1946, however, the subchaser moved north to Philadelphia where she was converted into an experimental ship to test infrared equipment for the Bureau of Ships. At that time, she was redesignated E-PCER-852. She completed the conversion in May of 1946 and began test work along the Delaware coast in cooperation with Callao (IX-205). In September of 1947, the Bureau of Ships shifted the infrared test program to the Underwater Sound Laboratory at New London, Conn., and E-PCER-852 operated from that base.

 

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For the next 18 years, the ship continued to do experimental work out of New London. By the early 1950's the nature of her test work expanded from infrared gear to include optical communications equipment, sonar apparatus, weather gear, and various other items of hardware. In addition to the Bureau of Ships, she did test work for both the Bureau of Ordnance and the Office of Naval Research. On 15 February 1956, the ship was named Brattleboro. She continued her experimental duties for nearly a decade after receiving her name. During that time, her zone of operations also expanded to include the coastal waters along the southeastern United States and thence into the West Indies. On 1 October 1965, Brattleboro was ordered to Philadelphia to begin inactivation. Decommissioned at Philadelphia and struck from the Navy list on 1 November 1965, Brattleboro was sold to the Republic of Vietnam on 11 July 1966. She was renamed Ngoc Hoi (HQ.12).

 

Brattleboro earned three battle stars during World War II as PCER 852.

 

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But her story did not end there......She joined the Market Time forces of the VNN in 1966 as the NGOC HOI (HQ-12)

 

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Caption: Making its first patrol as part of Operation Market Time, off the South Vietnamese Coast, 19 May 1967. Home ported at Saigon, she stays on her patrol station for approximately 15 days. Photo by Photographer's Mate Third Class G.B. Hall.

 

NGOC HOI (HQ-12) (South Vietnamese Patrol Ship, ex-USS BRATTLEBORO, PCE-852)

 

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VNN Crest of HQ-12

 

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VNN Photo of HQ-12

 

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The VNN crew of (HQ-12) after escaping with their ship to the Philippines in 1975.  She was subsequently absorbed into the Philippine Navy as the RPS Miguel Malvar (PS 19) and was still afloat as of 2015.

 

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RPS Miguel Malvar (PS 19) Philippine Navy 2015

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
Salvage Sailor

USS FAIRVIEW (EPCER-850) was a United States Navy PCE(R)-848-class Patrol Craft Escort (Rescue), in commission from April 1944 to May 1968. She was present at the surrender of Japan in Tokyo Bay at the end of World War II.

 

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From a crewman's letter home:  The PCE (R) 850 was hit in her 3 in. ammunition ready box. Killed 2, wounded 8. Dempsey was transferred to ‘Mercy.’ Doc says he won’t live much longer. Getting little sleep & even less time to cook & eat. I stay half drunk on coffee. Cheese & bacon sandwiches. More fleet in today. Some cripple. That’s the high points, too tired for details. Don’t ever be so silly as to ask me, “Didn’t you get scared?”

 

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RESEARCH - SERVICE

 

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USS FAIRVIEW Plaque

 

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Salvage Sailor

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PCE(R)-853 Made by the Pullman-Standard Car Manufacturing Co., Chicago, Illinois.  Commissioned on June 15th, 1944 for service in the Pacific theater configured as a Rescue vessel & Casualty clearing vessel.  She served with distinction in the Philippine and Okinawa campaigns saving many lives and assisting ships in distress.  

 

Her detailed WWII service record is located here at the NHHC Website - Amherst (PCER-853) 1944-1970 - Well worth reading

 

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After the war she was placed in the reserve fleet as a training ship and in 1956 was renamed USS AMHERST (PCER-853), primarily serving in the Great Lakes region.

 

Her transfer to the Coast and Geodetic Survey cancelled on 7 June 1946 and placed in “deferred disposal status,” PCE(R)-853 was decommissioned at Norfolk on 26 June 1946. Although earmarked for Naval Reserve Training in the Fourth Naval District and tentatively assigned to operate from Erie, Pa., the ship was placed in service on 6 March 1947 and assigned the home port of Philadelphia.

 

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In December 1947, PCE(R)-853 was ordered to Philadelphia to serve as a training vessel for Naval Reservists in the 4th Naval District. The ship was placed back in an active status on 28 November 1950 and carried out training duty at Philadelphia for the next 10 years, during which time, on 15 February 1956, she was named Amherst (PCER-853).

 

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Amherst got underway on 24 April 1960, then proceeded to Detroit, Mich., where, attached to the Ninth Naval District, she continued serving as a Naval Reserve training ship. She spent the remainder of her career making training cruises throughout the Great Lakes and visiting various ports in Michigan, New York, Ohio, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Canada.

 

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Plaque from navsource.com

 

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Van Kiep II (HQ-14)

 

On 6 February 1970, Amherst was placed in an “out of service, special” status for a pre-transfer overhaul. Her name was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 3 June 1970, and the ship was transferred to the Republic of Vietnam. She served the Vietnamese Navy as Van Kiep II (HQ-14). Ultimately, as South Vietnamese resistance crumbled, the ship and her crew escaped to the Philippines about 2 May 1975.

 

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Van Kiep II (HQ-14)

 

She was commissioned into the Philippine Navy and was renamed RPS (now BRP) Datu Marikudo (PS-23). Her last assignment was with the Patrol Force of the Philippine Fleet, She was programmed to have major repair as of 2007, but on 09 December 2010 she was decommissioned after she was found to be beyond economical repair and will be sold as scrap. Her equipment was stripped as spare for her operational sisterships

 

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    c. October 2007 Cavite City, Philippines.  Romblon (PG 63), ex-PGM-41 inboard of Agusan (PG 61), ex-PGM-39. Datu Marikudo is in the background

 

PCE(R)-853 received two battle stars for her World War II service: one for the Leyte landings (20 October, and 13 October-28 November 1944) and one for the Lingayen Gulf landings (9 January 1945).

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Salvage Sailor
On 11/14/2021 at 12:12 PM, Salvage Sailor said:

Aloha Everyone,

 

This will be a small category with examples of items from USN Submarine Chasers and Escort Patrol Craft (not to be confused with Patrol Frigates, Gunboats & Hydrofoils).  Members, please feel free to post your own items.

 

SUB CHASER TRAINING CENTER - Miami, Florida 1944 "The Donald Duck Navy" (nice Woody too)

 

304116544_SubChaserTrainingCenterMiamiFlorida001.jpg.9c125aa0055dc7131aecccf1a78ffe72.jpg

 

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Donald Duck WWII Subchaser (PC) on cardstock, circa 1944, Miami Beach, Florida

 

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Donald Duck (PC) patch circa 1944 from a Sub-Chaser Veteran's scrapbook

 

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Colored cardstock and patch, U.S. NAVY SUB CHASER TRAINING CENTER, Miami, Florida 1944

 

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Pulled from a scrapbook

 

 

 

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The Donald Duck Navy insignia Mary Mclssac Collection. HistoryMiami. 2001-421-33N

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  • 7 months later...
Salvage Sailor

 

USS WHITEHALL (PCER-856)

In service 1944 to 1970

Okinawa 1945

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  • 3 months later...
Salvage Sailor

...an odd one, part of the 'Splinter Fleet', she was a Patrol Craft and also a Minesweeper

 

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USS HOLLIDAYSBURG (PCS-1385)

Patrol Craft Sweeper

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  • 5 months later...
Salvage Sailor

USS SOMERSWORTH (EPCE(R)-849)

PCE(R) In service 1944 to 1965.  Redesignated EPCER in 1959

 

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c. August 1945 Manila Bay, Philippines

 

The ship was at the Battle of Leyte Gulf in October 1944.[4] It was also present at the surrender of Japan in Tokyo Bay on 2 September 1945, and was the first American ship to dock post-war at the Port of Tokyo. The ship received three battle stars for service during World War II.

 

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11 August 1954 Off Block Island, RI

 

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From 1946 to 1965, the ship was stationed at New London, Connecticut, at the Naval Underwater Sound Laboratory. The ship was named USS Somersworth on 15 February 1956.

 

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Explosion At Sea

On 17 July 1957, three crew members were killed and eight were injured (four seriously) by an explosion when the ship was approximately 90 miles (140 km) southeast of Montauk, New York. The blast was attributed to the premature detonation of explosives used for underwater sound tests.

 

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The four seriously injured crew members were transferred to the nearby RMS Queen Mary, which was en route from New York City to England, and later transported to Newport, Rhode Island, by the USS Sunbird. One injured seaman had to have his left leg amputated. The Navy later issued dereliction of duty letters to the ship's commander and gunnery officer.

 

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At Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 1960's

 

In 1959, the ship was reclassified as EPCE(R)-849, an Experimental Patrol Craft Escort (Rescue). The ship was decommissioned in September 1965

 

EPCER849USSSOMERSWORTH002.JPG.8d11b79e657cd0abc51ded6ffe94ab14.JPG

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  • 2 months later...
Salvage Sailor

USS ROCKVILLE (EPCER-851)

In service 1944 to 1968

EPCER851USSROCKVILLE001.JPG.35d667564321803f7eab90fe5b7f0d38.JPG

Reclassified as an Experimental Patrol Craft Escort (Rescue), EPCE(R)-851, 15 October 1951

Named ROCKVILLE 15 February 1956

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Design and construction

USS Rockville was laid down as USS PCER-851 on 18 October 1943 as one of thirteen designed Patrol Craft Escort Rescue (PCER) ships by the Pullman Standard Car Company of Chicago, Illinois. She was launched on 22 February 1944 and commissioned on 15 May 1944 as a medical rescue ship. The PCER ships were designed as a variation of the PCE-842-class patrol craft, with her specializing in personnel transport and medical evacuation. The class was originally planned to serve as Convoy Rescue Transports (designated as APR), however this idea was abandoned before construction even started.

 

As a medical ship, she was built with an onboard surgery, pharmacy, 65 hospital beds and equipped with x-ray devices with accommodations for 57 patients. The added facilities was crewed by an additional 11 medical staff, bringing the total crew to 107. The space was facilitated by a longer forecastle, which extends for most of the ship's length. The added forecastle weight was compensated with less anti-aircraft and anti-submarine weapons compared to the standard PCE-842 design.

 

A common criticism of the design was the lack of any long range surface detection equipment, which forced the crew to manually watch for aircraft. This became exceptionally problematic after the first appearances of kamikazes. The problem was also furthered by the lack of a short range radio, meaning the ship was not able to get any warnings of incoming aircraft from nearby ships. This also had the effect of having the crew feel like they were alone in the ocean as they at times had no communication with other vessels.

 

All patrol craft escort ships had four more 40mm guns compared to the rescue variant, mounted with 2.

 

EPCER851USSROCKVILLE002.JPG.0307bbaee52230f37734e89cd3dcd255.JPG

 

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