This website is dedicated to the four naval ships named after the city of Asheville, North Carolina. The U.S.S. Asheville I, or PG- 21, served as a gunboat in WWII before it sunk in 1942. The U.S.S. Asheville II, or PF-1, served as a patrol frigate from 1942 to 1946. The U.S.S. Asheville III, or PGM-84, was a gunboat in the Vietnam War. Lastly, the U.S.S. Asheville IV, or the SSN-78, is a nuclear submarine currently in commission.
Each page includes the ships’ history, pictures, and statistics on the ship itself. The displacement, measured in tons, is the amount of water that is moved while the ship is floating. Essentially, it is weight of the ship itself, and its contents. The length of the ship, measured in feet on our website, is the measurement of the longest part of the ship. The beam, also measured in feet, is the width of the ship. The draft, measured in feet as well, is a vertical distance from the keel of the ship to the waterline. Knots is the measurement of speed the ship can go.
This website draws its information from the Walter Ashe Collection at the University of North Carolina at Asheville’s Special Collections and University Archives. This collection includes the “USS Asheville Story” and “My Hong Kong Adventure,” both written by Walter Ashe, a crewman on the first U.S.S. Asheville. Walter Ashe was born on July 2, 1916. Ashe reported to boot camp on April 18, 1935, after being accepted into the navy. After being assigned to the USS Pennsylvania and the USS Henderson, Ashe finally made his way to the USS Asheville (PG-21), in Hong Kong. Ashe was honorably discharged in 1939, but returned to the navy at the start of WWII.2
To the public and scholars alike, we hope that you enjoy this website, and leave with more knowledge than before.
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US Armed Forces
Emblem of the USS Asheville SSN-758, Wikipedia Commons.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:USS_Asheville_SSN-758_Crest.png - Walter Ashe Collection, D.H. Ramsey Library Special Collections, University of North Carolina at Asheville, Asheville, NC.
