History | |
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Name | Grand Rapids |
Namesake | City of Grand Rapids, Michigan |
Builder | Walter Butler Shipbuilders Inc., Superior, Wisconsin |
Laid down | 30 July 1943 |
Launched | 10 September 1943 |
Commissioned | 10 October 1944 |
Decommissioned | 10 April 1946 |
Fate | Sold for scrapping, 14 April 1947 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Tacoma-class frigate |
Displacement |
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Length | 303 ft 11 in (92.63 m) |
Beam | 37 ft 11 in (11.56 m) |
Draft | 13 ft 8 in (4.17 m) |
Propulsion |
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Speed | 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph) |
Complement | 190 |
Armament |
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USS Grand Rapids (PF-31), a Tacoma-class frigate, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Grand Rapids (PF-31), formerly designated PG-139, was launched at Walter Butler Shipbuilders, Inc., in Superior, Wisconsin, on 10 September 1943, sponsored by Mrs. Ted Booth; and commissioned on 10 October 1944, with Lieutenant Commander T. F. Knoll, USCG, in command. The ship had been taken down the Mississippi River and outfitted at Plaquemine, Louisiana, before being commissioned at New Orleans.
Outfitted as a weather ship, Grand Rapids sailed on 17 October for Bermuda and her shakedown cruise, but was damaged at sea by a hurricane and returned to Algiers, Louisiana, for repairs. After repairs were completed, she proceeded toward Bermuda again on 27 October, and after her shakedown training put in at Boston, Massachusetts, on 4 December 1944. Grand Rapids steamed out of Boston on 6 January 1945 for duty as a weather picket ship off Newfoundland.
Grand Rapids operated as a weather ship out of NS Argentia until returning to Boston on 6 June 1945. The ship soon sailed for her station on 7 July, and continued sending vital weather reports for the North Atlantic area until finally returning to Boston on 15 January 1946. Grand Rapids decommissioned at Boston on 10 April 1946, was sold to Sun Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company, Chester, Pennsylvania, on 14 April 1947, and subsequently scrapped.
The first USS Shreveport (PG-131/PF-23) was a Tacoma-class frigate of the United States Navy.
USS Abilene (PF-58), a Tacoma-class frigate, was in the service of the United States Navy, named after the city of Abilene, Kansas.
USS Uniontown (PF-65), a Tacoma-class frigate, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for Uniontown, Pennsylvania.
USS Woonsocket (PF-32) was a Tacoma-class frigate in service with the United States Navy from 1944 to 1946. She was sold to Peru in 1947, where she served as BAP Gálvez (F-1/FE-1) until 1961.
USS Hingham (PF-30), a Tacoma-class frigate, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for Hingham, Massachusetts. Hingham, originally designated PG-138, was launched under Maritime Commission contract by Walter Butler Shipbuilding Company in Superior, Wisconsin, on 27 August 1943, sponsored by Mrs. Katherine F. Harrington; and commissioned on 3 November 1944 after outfitting at Plaquemine, Louisiana. Her first commanding officer was Lieutenant Commander W. K. Earle, USCG.
USS Milledgeville (PF-94), a Tacoma-class frigate, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for Milledgeville, Georgia.
USS Manitowoc (PF-61), a Tacoma-class frigate in commission from 1944 to, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for Manitowoc, Wisconsin. After commissioned service in the U.S. Navy from 1944 to 1946. After her Navy service, she served in the United States Coast Guard for a few months in 1946. Sold to France in 1947, she commissioned into service in the French Navy as Le Brix (F715) in 1948 and operated as a weather ship until scrapped in 1958.
USS Alexandria (PF-18), originally classified PG-126, a Tacoma-class frigate, was the second ship of the United States Navy to hold that name, but it was the first to be named for the city of Alexandria, Virginia.
USS Lorain (PF-93), a Tacoma-class frigate, was the first commissioned ship of the United States Navy to be named for Lorain, Ohio.
USS New Bedford (PF-71), a Tacoma-class frigate, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for New Bedford, Massachusetts.
USS Gladwyne (PF-62), a Tacoma-class frigate, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for Gladwyne, Pennsylvania. Originally named Worcester after Worcester, Massachusetts, the name was changed in order to give it to new light cruiser USS Worcester (CL-144) then under construction.
USS Brownsville (PG-118/PF-10), a Tacoma-class patrol frigate, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for Brownsville, Texas.
USS Huron (PF-19), a Tacoma-class frigate, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for Huron, South Dakota.
USS Muskegon (PF-24), a Tacoma-class frigate, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for Muskegon, a city on Michigan's west coast.
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USS Gantner (DE-60/APD-42), a Buckley-class destroyer escort of the United States Navy, was named in honor of Boatswain's Mate Samuel Merritt Gantner (1919-1941), who was killed in action during the Japanese attack on the Hawaiian Islands.
USS Bangor (PF-16) was a United States Navy Tacoma-class frigate in commission from 1944 to 1946. Thus far, she has been the only U.S. Navy ship named for Bangor, Maine. She later served in United States Coast Guard as USCGC Bangor and in the Mexican Navy as ARM General José María Morelos and ARM Golfo de Tehuantepec.
USS Orlando (PF-99) was a Tacoma-class frigate that served during World War II. She was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for Orlando, Florida.
USS Beaufort (PF-59) was a Tacoma-class frigate acquired by the United States Navy during World War II. Although she was designed as a patrol craft, she was reconfigured and employed as a weather station ship in the North Atlantic Ocean. Beaufort's task was to launch weather balloons and transmit weather data via radio to her shore-based commanders.
USS Greensboro (PF-101) was a United States Navy Tacoma-class frigate in commission from 1945 to 1946.