PC-496 was built by Leathem D. Smith Coal and Shipbuilding Co. in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, being laid down on 24 April 1941.

[2][3] She was assigned to the European Theater of Operations where she was destroyed by an Italian torpedo off the coast of Bizerte, Tunisia, on 4 June 1943.

[1][2] After PC-496 was built in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, she traversed the Mississippi River to New Orleans where she received her commission and captain, Lieutenant James S. Dowdell, USNR.

Upon arriving in North Africa she first made port in Beni Saf, Algeria, before moving east to Mers-el-Kebir and then to Arzew.

The surviving crew members were rescued by allied ships in the area and transported to the American-occupied French naval base at La Pecherie, at Lake Bizerte, Tunisia.