USS Sandusky (PF-54)

USS Sandusky (PF-54), a Tacoma-class frigate in commission from 1944 to 1945, was the second United States Navy ship of the name and the first to be named for Sandusky, Ohio.[1] She later served in the Soviet Navy as EK-7 and in the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force as JDS Nire (PF-7), Nire (PF-287) and as YAC-19.

For other ships with the same name, see USS Sandusky.

USS Sandusky (PF-54)
History
United States
Name: Sandusky
Namesake: City of Sandusky, Ohio[1]
Reclassified: PF-54, 15 April 1943
Builder: Froemming Brothers, Inc., Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Laid down: 8 July 1943
Launched: 5 October 1943
Sponsored by: Miss Mabel Apel
Commissioned: 18 April 1944
Decommissioned: 12 July 1945
Honors and
awards:		 2 × battle stars, World War II
Fate: Transferred to the Soviet Navy, 12 July 1945[2]
Acquired: Returned by Soviet Navy, 15 October 1949
Fate: Transferred to the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, 26 February 1953
Stricken: 1 December 1961
Acquired: Returned by Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, 31 March 1970
Fate: Scrapped 1970
Soviet Union
Name: EK-7[3]
Acquired: 12 July 1945[2]
Commissioned: 12 July 1945[4]
Fate: Returned to United States, 15 October 1949
Japan
Name: Nire
Acquired: 26 February 1953
Renamed: YAC-19, 1969
Reclassified: Auxiliary stock craft (YAC), 1969
Fate: Returned to United States 31 March 1970 for disposal
General characteristics
Class and type: Tacoma-class frigate
Displacement: 1,264 long tons (1,284 t)
Length: 303 ft 11 in (92.63 m)
Beam: 37 ft 6 in (11.43 m)
Draft: 13 ft 8 in (4.17 m)
Propulsion:
  • 2 × 5,500 shp (4,101 kW) turbines
  • 3 boilers
  • 2 shafts
Speed: 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Complement: 190
Armament:

Construction and commissioning

Sandusky, originally classified as a "patrol gunboat," PG-162, was reclassified as a "patrol frigate," PF-54 on 15 April 1943. Laid down on 8 July 1943, under a Maritime Commission contract by Froemming Brothers, Inc., in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, she was launched on 5 October 1943, sponsored by Miss Mabel Apel, and commissioned on 18 April 1944 at New Orleans, Louisiana, with Lieutenant Commander Thomas R. Sargent III, USCG, in command.

Service history

U.S. Navy, World War II, 1944–1945

After shakedown at Bermuda and overhaul at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Sandusky departed for the Pacific Ocean on 18 August 1944, escorting a convoy from New York City to Finschhafen and Hollandia, New Guinea. After completing the long convoy voyage on 2 October 1944, she proceeded to Morotai, conducting anti-submarine patrols there for the rest of the month. From November 1944 through February 1945, she escorted convoys between Hollandia and Leyte in the Philippine Islands in support of U.S. troops occupying the Philippines. After escorting a convoy to Lingayen Gulf at Luzon in the Philippines, she departed from Leyte on 8 March 1945 for Seattle, Washington.

Following overhaul, Machias proceeded to Kodiak in the Territory of Alaska. Earmarked for transfer to the Soviet Navy in Project Hula, a secret program for the transfer of U.S. Navy ships to the Soviet Navy in anticipation of the Soviet Union joining the war against Japan, Sandusky joined her sister ships USS Charlottesville (PF-25), USS Long Beach (PF-34), USS Belfast (PF-35), USS Glendale (PF-36), USS San Pedro (PF-37), USS Coronado (PF-38), USS Allentown (PF-52), and USS Machias (PF-53) in getting underway from Kodiak on 13 June 1945 bound for Cold Bay, Alaska, where they arrived on 14 June 1945 to enter Project Hula. Training of Sanduksy's new Soviet Navy crew soon began at Cold Bay.[5]

Soviet Navy, 1945–1949

Sandusky was decommissioned on 12 July 1945 at Cold Bay and transferred to the Soviet Union under Lend-Lease immediately[2] along with nine of her sister ships, the first group of patrol frigates transferred to the Soviet Navy. Commissioned into the Soviet Navy immediately,[4] Sandusky was designated as a storozhevoi korabl ("escort ship") and renamed EK-7[3] in Soviet service. On 15 July 1945, EK-7 departed Cold Bay in company with nine of her sister ships – EK-1 (ex-Charlottesville), EK-2 (ex-Long Beach), EK-3 (ex-Belfast), EK-4 (ex-Machias), EK-5 (ex-San Pedro), EK-6 (ex-Glendale), EK-8 (ex-Coronado), EK-9 (ex-Allentown), and EK-10 (ex-USS Ogden (PF-39)) – bound for Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky in the Soviet Union. EK-7 served as a patrol vessel in the Soviet Far East.[6]

In February 1946, the United States began negotiations for the return of ships loaned to the Soviet Union for use during World War II. On 8 May 1947, United States Secretary of the Navy James V. Forrestal informed the United States Department of State that the United States Department of the Navy wanted 480 of the 585 combatant ships it had transferred to the Soviet Union for World War II use returned, EK-7 among them. Negotiations for the return of the ships were protracted, but on 15 October 1949 the Soviet Union finally returned EK-7 to the U.S. Navy at Yokosuka, Japan.[7]

Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, 1953–1970
For other ships with the same name, see Japanese ship Nire.

Reverting to her original name, Sandusky lay idle in the Pacific Reserve Fleet at Yokosuka until the United States loaned her to Japan on 26 February 1953 for service in the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force as JDS Nire (PF-7) (にれ (PF-7), "elm").[8] Nire was redesignated PF-287 on 1 September 1957.[8] The United States struck her from the Navy list on 1 December 1961 and transferred her outright to Japan on 28 August 1962. In 1969, she was reclassified as an "auxiliary stock craft" (YAC) and renamed YAC-19.[8] Japan returned her to the United States on 31 March 1970 for disposal.

Awards

The U.S. Navy awarded Sandusky two battle stars for her World War II service.

References

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.

  1. The Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships Sandusky article mentions only the Sandusky River as a namesake, implying that both USS Sandusky (1865) and USS Sandusky (PF-54). Actually, only USS Sandusky of 1865 was named for the river. All Tacoma-class patrol frigates were named after small cities – for example, see Russell, Richard A., Project Hula: Secret Soviet-American Cooperation in the War Against Japan, Washington, D.C.: Naval Historical Center, 1997, ISBN 0-945274-35-1, p. 22 – and PF-54 was named after the city of Sandusky, Ohio.
  2. The Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships Sandusky article states that Sandusky was transferred on 13 July 1945, and NavSource Online: Frigate Photo Archive Sandusky (PF 54) ex-PG-162 and hazegray.org Sandusky repeat this. However, Russell, Richard A., Project Hula: Secret Soviet-American Cooperation in the War Against Japan, Washington, D.C.: Naval Historical Center, 1997, ISBN 0-945274-35-1, p. 39, which includes access to Soviet-era records unavailable during the Cold War, reports that the transfer date was 12 July 1945. As sources, Russell cites Department of the Navy, Ships Data: U.S. Naval Vessels Volume II, 1 January 1949, (NAVSHIPS 250-012), Washington, DC: Bureau of Ships, 1949; and Berezhnoi, S. S., Flot SSSR: Korabli i suda lendliza: Spravochnik ("The Soviet Navy: Lend-Lease Ships and Vessels: A Reference"), St. Petersburg, Russia: Belen, 1994.
  3. The Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships Sandusky article states that Sanduskywas named EK-10 in Soviet service and NavSource Online: Frigate Photo Archive Sandusky (PF 54) ex-PG-162 and hazegray.org Sandusky repeat this, but Russell, Richard A., Project Hula: Secret Soviet-American Cooperation in the War Against Japan, Washington, D.C.: Naval Historical Center, 1997, ISBN 0-945274-35-1, p. 39, which includes access to Soviet-era records unavailable during the Cold War, reports that the ship's Soviet name was EK-7. As sources, Russell cites Department of the Navy, Ships Data: U.S. Naval Vessels Volume II, 1 January 1949, (NAVSHIPS 250-012), Washington, DC: Bureau of Ships, 1949; and Berezhnoi, S. S., Flot SSSR: Korabli i suda lendliza: Spravochnik ("The Soviet Navy: Lend-Lease Ships and Vessels: A Reference"), St. Petersburg, Russia: Belen, 1994.
  4. According to Russell, Richard A., Project Hula: Secret Soviet-American Cooperation in the War Against Japan, Washington, D.C.: Naval Historical Center, 1997, ISBN 0-945274-35-1, which includes access to Soviet-era records unavailable during the Cold War, Project Hula ships were commissioned into the Soviet Navy simultaneously with their transfer from the U.S. Navy; see photo captions on p. 24 regarding the transfers of various large infantry landing craft (LCI(L)s) and information on p. 27 about the transfer of USS Coronado (PF-38), which Russell says typified the transfer process. As sources, Russell cites Department of the Navy, Ships Data: U.S. Naval Vessels Volume II, 1 January 1949, (NAVSHIPS 250-012), Washington, DC: Bureau of Ships, 1949; and Berezhnoi, S. S., Flot SSSR: Korabli i suda lendliza: Spravochnik ("The Soviet Navy: Lend-Lease Ships and Vessels: A Reference"), St. Petersburg, Russia: Belen, 1994.
  5. Russell, Richard A., Project Hula: Secret Soviet-American Cooperation in the War Against Japan, Washington, D.C.: Naval Historical Center, 1997, ISBN 0-945274-35-1, p. 25.
  6. Russell, Richard A., Project Hula: Secret Soviet-American Cooperation in the War Against Japan, Washington, D.C.: Naval Historical Center, 1997, ISBN 0-945274-35-1, pp. 27, 39.
  7. Russell, Richard A., Project Hula: Secret Soviet-American Cooperation in the War Against Japan, Washington, D.C.: Naval Historical Center, 1997, ISBN 0-945274-35-1, pp. 37–38, 39.
  8. The Naval Database.


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