USS Covington (PF-56) (left) and USS Lorain (right) docked at New York City, 1946, when the ships were on loan to the United States Coast Guard. | |
History | |
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United States | |
Name | USS Roanoke (PG-201) |
Namesake | Roanoke, Virginia |
Reclassified | PF-93, 15 April 1943 |
Builder | American Ship Building Company, Lorain, Ohio |
Laid down | 25 October 1943 |
Renamed | USS Lorain (PF-93), 7 February 1944 |
Namesake | Lorain, Ohio |
Launched | 18 March 1944 |
Sponsored by | Mrs. Fred Henderson |
Commissioned | 15 January 1945 |
Decommissioned | 14 March 1946 |
Fate | Sold to France, 26 March 1947 |
France | |
Name | Laplace (F13) |
Acquired | 26 March 1947 |
Reclassified | F713, c. 1952 |
Fate | Sunk by a mine, 16 September 1950 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Tacoma-class frigate |
Displacement |
|
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 |
|
Speed | 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph) |
Complement | 190 |
Armament |
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USS Lorain (PF-93), a Tacoma-class frigate, was the first commissioned ship of the United States Navy to be named for Lorain, Ohio.
Lorain (PF-93) was authorized as Roanoke (PG-201) and laid down as Roanoke (PF-93) under a United States Maritime Commission contract by American Ship Building Company, Lorain, Ohio, 25 October 1943. She was renamed Lorain on 7 February 1944; launched on 18 March 1944, sponsored by Mrs. Fred Henderson; and commissioned at Baltimore, Maryland, on 15 January 1945.
Lorain departed Baltimore on 28 January 1945 for Norfolk, Virginia, and Bermuda, where the Coast Guard-manned frigate underwent shakedown and training. After further training in Casco Bay, Maine, she sailed on 11 April for NS Argentia, Newfoundland, her base for weather patrols through the following summer. Operating out of Argentia and later Reykjavík, Iceland, she ranged the North Atlantic from the coastal waters of Greenland to waters north of the Azores, reporting vital meteorological data.
Lorain returned to Boston on 14 September, conducted a weather patrol off New England in late October, then sailed on 2 December for duty in the Caribbean. An escort run took her to Recife, Brazil, early in 1946, and after two weather patrols east of Bermuda, she returned to Boston on 7 March, and decommissioned there on 14 March 1946.
She was sold on 26 March 1947 to the French Navy and commissioned on the same day as Laplace (F-13). Disarmed a year later, she served as weather observation ship in the North Atlantic until sunk by a leftover World War II mine on 16 September 1950.
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 Sheboygan (PF-57) was a Tacoma-class frigate of the United States Navy which was later transferred to the Belgian Navy as Lieutenant ter zee Victor Billet.
USS Uniontown (PF-65), a Tacoma-class frigate, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for Uniontown, Pennsylvania.
USS Dearborn (PF-33), a Tacoma-class frigate, is so far the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for Dearborn, Michigan.
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.
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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 Grand Rapids (PF-31), a Tacoma-class frigate, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for Grand Rapids, Michigan.
USS Groton (PF-29), a Tacoma-class frigate, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for Groton, Connecticut.
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USS Greensboro (PF-101) was a United States Navy Tacoma-class frigate in commission from 1945 to 1946.
USS Forsyth (PF-102) was a United States Navy Tacoma-class frigate in commission from 1945 to 1946, which saw service in the final months of World War II and the first months of the postwar period. After her Navy career concluded, she was in commission in the United States Coast Guard as the cutter USCGC Forsyth (WPF-102) from March to August 1946. In 1947 she was sold to the Government of the Netherlands, for which she served as the civilian weather ship SS Cumulus from 1947 to 1963.
USS Lorain (PF-97) was a United States Navy Tacoma-class frigate authorized for construction during World War II but cancelled before construction could begin.