Black Company: The Story of Subchaser 1264

by Eric Purdon

The remarkable World War II story of PC 1264's crew of fifty African-American enlisted men as recounted by the ship's captain.

256 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2000

Reviews

[Anthonette · Rating 5 out of 5]

very interesting and informative book. i thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. must read to teyly understand what happened in 1944. recommended reading

[Bas Kreuger · Rating 4 out of 5]

A simple story about a small warship in WWII. A few officers and about a hundred men. Only one serious action against a possible German U-boat. Commissioned in the summer of 1944, de-commissioned in the spring of 1946. Nothing spectacular about SC 1264 (Sub Chaser), except that her crew was almost entirely african-american. She was one of two ships selected to serve as a floating laboratory to see if black Americans could serve in other roles than as mess mates. And it was (un)spectacularly so! It helped making progress towards an integrated US Navy in a time when it was common belief that blacks couldn't serve in other capacities and certainly not serve as petty officers for white sailors, not even thinking about black officers. SC 1264 did all that and more, being the ship where the first future black flag officer of the US Navy got his feet wet.

A nice, small and very readable book

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book when I was in college many years ago and was impressed with the history of this significant PC and remain so today. The author was the first commanding officer of PC 1264 and is justifiably proud of his crew. The crew was one of the first crews made up of African American sailors fulfilling all of the rates onboard not just that of wardroom steward. This ship was a test bed to see if African Americans could serve in any other rates other than steward’s mates. The other ship was the USS Mason a destroyer escort. The book isn't the best written but it does show an easily forgotten time in our history.