USS Machias (PF-53): Difference between revisions

	USS Machias ca. March 1944
History
United States
Name	USS Machias (PG-161)
Namesake	Machias, Maine
Reclassified	PF-53, 15 April 1943
Builder	Froemming Brothers, Inc., Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Laid down	8 May 1943
Launched	22 August 1943
Sponsored by	Mrs. W. Richard Bernays
Commissioned	29 March 1944
Decommissioned	12 July 1945
Honors and; awards	2 battle stars, World War II
Fate	Transferred to the Soviet Navy, 13 July 1945
Acquired	Returned by Soviet Navy, October 1949
Fate	Transferred to the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, 14 January 1953
Stricken	1 December 1961
History
Soviet Union
Name	EK-4
Acquired	12 July 1945
Commissioned	12 July 1945
Fate	Returned to United States, October 1949
History
Japan
Name	JDS Nara (PF-2)
Acquired	list error: <br /> list (help); By loan 14 January 1953; Permanent transfer 28 August 1962
Reclassified	PF-282, 1 September 1957
Decommissioned	31 March 1966
Renamed	YTE-8, 31 March 1966
Reclassified	Pier-side training ship (YTE), 31 March 1966
Fate	Sold for scrapping 1969
General characteristics
Class and type	Tacoma-class frigate
Displacement	list error: <br /> list (help); 1,430 long tons (1,453 t) light; 2,415 long tons (2,454 t) full
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	list error: <br /> list (help); 2 × 5,500 shp (4,101 kW) turbines; 3 boilers; 2 shafts
Speed	20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Complement	190
Armament	list error: <br /> list (help); • 3 × 3"/50 caliber guns (3×1); • 4 × 40 mm guns (2×2); • 9 × 20 mm guns (9×1); • 1 × Hedgehog anti-submarine mortar; • 8 × Y-gun depth charge projectors; • 2 × depth charge tracks

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Revision as of 22:08, 23 February 2013

The second USS Machias (PF-53) was a United States Navy Tacoma-class frigate in commission from 1944 to 1945 which later served in the Soviet Navy as EK-4 and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force as JDS Nara (PF-2) and YTE-8.

Construction and commissioning

Machias originally was authorized as a patrol gunboat with the hull number PG-161, but she was redesignated as a patrol frigate with the hull number PF-53 on 15 April 1943. She was laid down under a Maritime Commission contract as a Maritime Commission Type T.S2-S2-AQ1 hull on 8 April 1943 by Froemming Brothers, Inc., at Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She was launched on 22 August 1943, sponsored by Mrs. W. Richard Bernays, and commissioned on 29 March 1944.

Service history

World War II, 1944–1945

Ready for sea duty by 17 July 1944, Machias patrolled off the Middle Atlantic states and escorted a convoy to Aruba in the Netherlands West Indies before joining Escort Division 33 at Norfolk, Virginia, on 13 August 1944. With that division, she steamed to New York City to become a unit of Task Group 70.7, then assembling to depart for the Pacific Ocean.

The task group departed New York on 16 August 1944, and by 28 August 1944 it had transited the Panama Canal en route Bora Bora. On 25 September 1944, Machias left the convoy to escort the Royal Navy infantry landing ships HMS Empire Arquebus and HMS Empire Battleaxe to the New Hebrides Islands and the Solomon Islands to disembark troops. She rejoined her escort division at Morotai on 23 October 1944 and commenced antisubmarine patrols in the waters surrounding the Molucca Islands.

On 15 November 1944, following a brief stay at Mios Woendi for boiler repairs, Machias steamed with her escort division for the Philippine Islands. She arrived on 18 November 1944 and, after further repairs, took up antisubmarine patrols off Mindanao, primarily in Surigao Strait. She continued in this role until 4 December 1944, when she returned to convoy escort duty. For the next three months she escorted ships and carried military personnel to and from New Guinea, the Philippines, the Marshall Islands, and the Caroline Islands.

Machias departed Eniwetok for Seattle, Washington on 19 March 1945 for an overhaul at Puget Sound Navy Yard at Bremerton, Washington. Upon completion of her overhaul in June 1944, she 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, Machias 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 Sandusky (PF-54) 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 Machias's new Soviet Navy crew soon began at Cold Bay.^[1]

Soviet Navy, 1945–1949

Machias was decommissioned on 12 July 1945 at Cold Bay and transferred to the Soviet Union under Lend-Lease immediately along with nine of her sister ships, the first group of patrol frigates transferred to the Soviet Navy. Commissioned into the Soviet Navy immediately, Machias was designated as a storozhevoi korabl ("escort ship") and renamed EK-4 in Soviet service. On 15 July 1945, EK-4 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-5 (ex-San Pedro), EK-6 (ex-Glendale), EK-7 (ex-Sandusky), 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-4 served as a patrol vessel in the Soviet Far East.^[2]

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-4 among them. Negotiations for the return of the ships were protracted, but in October 1949 the Soviet Union finally returned EK-4 to the U.S. Navy at Yokosuka, Japan.^[3]

Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, 1953–1971

Reverting to her original name, Machias remained at Yokosuka in a caretaker status in the Pacific Reserve Fleet until 14 January 1953, when the United States loaned her to Japan. She served in the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force as JDS Nara (PF-2). Nara was redesignated PF-282 on 1 September 1957.

The U.S. Navy struck Machias's name from the Navy List on 1 December 1961, and the United States transferred Nara outright to Japan on 28 August 1962. Decommissioned on 31 March 1966, Nara was redesignated YTE-3 that day and entered non-commissioned service as a non-self-propelled pierside training ship. She was sold for scrapping in 1969.

Honors and awards

The U.S. Navy awarded Machias 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.
Department of the Navy Naval Historical Center Online Library of Selected Images: U.S. Navy Ships: USS Machias (PF-53), 1944–1953
NavSource Online: Frigate Photo Archive: Machias (PF 53) ex-PG-161

^ 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.
^ 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.
^ 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.

[1] 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.

[2] 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.

[3] 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.

[1]

[2]

[3]

@@ Line 15: / Line 15: @@
 {{Infobox Ship Career
 |Hide header=yes
-|Ship builder=[[Froemming Brothers, Inc.]], [[Milwaukee, Wisconsin]]
+|Ship builder=[[Froemming Brothers, Inc.]], [[Milwaukee, Wisconsin|Milwaukee]], [[Wisconsin]]
 |Ship laid down=8 May 1943
 |Ship launched=22 August 1943
@@ Line 22: / Line 22: @@
 |Ship decommissioned=12 July 1945
 |Ship honors=2 [[battle star]]s, [[World War II]]
-|Ship fate=transferred to the [[Soviet Navy]], 13 July 1945
+|Ship fate=Transferred to the [[Soviet Navy]], 13 July 1945
 }}
 {{Infobox Ship Career
 |Hide header=yes
-|Ship acquired=returned from Soviet Navy, October 1949
+|Ship acquired=Returned by Soviet Navy, October 1949
-|Ship fate=transferred to the [[Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force]], 14 January 1953
+|Ship fate=Transferred to the [[Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force]], 14 January 1953
 }}
 {{Infobox Ship Career
@@ Line 36: / Line 36: @@
 |Ship country={{nowrap|Soviet Union}}
 |Ship flag={{shipboxflag|Soviet Union|naval-1935}}
-|Ship name= ''EK-9''
+|Ship name= ''EK-4''
-|Ship acquired=13 July 1945
+|Ship acquired=12 July 1945
-|Ship commissioned=
+|Ship commissioned=12 July 1945
 |Ship decommissioned=
 |Ship struck=
@@ Line 47: / Line 47: @@
 |Ship flag={{shipboxflag|Japan|naval}}
 |Ship name=JDS ''Nara'' (PF-2)
-|Ship acquired=by loan, 14 January 1953<br/>permanent transfer, 28 August 1962
+|Ship acquired=By loan 14 January 1953<br/>Permanent transfer 28 August 1962
 |Ship commissioned=
 |Ship reclassified=PF-282, 1 September 1957
@@ Line 54: / Line 54: @@
 |Hide header=yes
 |Ship decommissioned=31 March 1966
+|Ship reclassified=Pier-side [[training ship]] (YTE), 31 March 1966
 |Ship renamed=''YTE-8'', 31 March 1966
-|Ship in service=31 March 1966, as pier-side training ship
 |Ship fate= Sold for scrapping 1969
 }}
@@ Line 75: / Line 75: @@
 }}
 |}
-The second '''USS ''Machias'' (PF-53)''' was a [[United States Navy]] {{sclass|Tacoma|frigate}} in commission from 1944 to 1945 which later served in the [[Soviet Navy]] and the [[Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force]].
+The second '''USS ''Machias'' (PF-53)''' was a [[United States Navy]] {{sclass|Tacoma|frigate}} in commission from 1944 to 1945 which later served in the [[Soviet Navy]] as '''''EK-4''''' and the [[Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force]] as '''JDS ''Nara'' (PF-2)''' and '''''YTE-8'''''.
 ==Construction and commissioning==
-''Machias'' originally was authorized as a patrol [[gunboat]] with the [[hull number]] PG-161, but she was redesignated as a [[patrol frigate]] with the hull number PF-53 on 15 April 1943.  She was laid down under a [[Maritime Commission]] contract as a Maritime Commission Type T.S2-S2-AQ1 [[Hull (watercraft)|hull]] on 8 April 1943 by [[Froemming Brothers, Inc.]], at [[Milwaukee, Wisconsin]]. She was [[Ship naming and launching|launched]] on 22 August 1943, sponsored by Mrs. W. Richard Bernays, and [[Ship commissioning|commissioned]] on 29 March 1944.
+''Machias'' originally was authorized as a patrol [[gunboat]] with the [[hull number]] PG-161, but she was redesignated as a [[patrol frigate]] with the hull number PF-53 on 15 April 1943.  She was laid down under a [[Maritime Commission]] contract as a Maritime Commission Type T.S2-S2-AQ1 [[Hull (watercraft)|hull]] on 8 April 1943 by [[Froemming Brothers, Inc.]], at [[Milwaukee, Wisconsin|Milwaukee]], [[Wisconsin]]. She was [[Ship naming and launching|launched]] on 22 August 1943, sponsored by Mrs. W. Richard Bernays, and [[Ship commissioning|commissioned]] on 29 March 1944.
 ==Service history==
 ===World War II, 1944–1945===
-Ready for sea duty by 17 July 1944, ''Machias'' patrolled off the [[Mid-Atlantic States|Middle Atlantic states]] and escorted a [[convoy]] to [[Aruba]] in the [[Netherlands West Indies]] before joining Escort Division 33 at [[Norfolk, Virginia]], on 13 August 1944. With that division, she steamed to New York City to become a unit of [[Task Group]] 70.7, then assembling to depart for the Pacific Ocean.
+Ready for sea duty by 17 July 1944, ''Machias'' patrolled off the [[Mid-Atlantic States|Middle Atlantic states]] and escorted a [[convoy]] to [[Aruba]] in the [[Netherlands West Indies]] before joining Escort Division 33 at [[Norfolk, Virginia|Norfolk]], [[Virginia]], on 13 August 1944. With that division, she steamed to [[New York City]] to become a unit of [[Task Group]] 70.7, then assembling to depart for the [[Pacific Ocean]].
-The task group departed New York on 16 August 1944, and by 28 August 1944 it had transited the [[Panama Canal]] en route to [[Bora Bora]]. On 25 September 1944, ''Machias'' left the convoy to escort the [[Royal Navy]] [[Landing Ship, Infantry|infantry landing ships]] [[HMS Empire Arquebus|HMS ''Empire Arquebus'']] and [[HMS Empire Battleaxe|HMS ''Empire Battleaxe'']] to the [[New Hebrides Islands]] and the [[Solomon Islands]] to disembark [[troops]]. She rejoined her escort division at [[Morotai]] on 23 October 1944 and commenced [[Antisubmarine warfare|antisubmarine]] patrols in the waters surrounding the [[Molucca Islands]].
+The task group departed New York on 16 August 1944, and by 28 August 1944 it had transited the [[Panama Canal]] en route [[Bora Bora]]. On 25 September 1944, ''Machias'' left the convoy to escort the [[Royal Navy]] [[Landing Ship, Infantry|infantry landing ships]] [[HMS Empire Arquebus|HMS ''Empire Arquebus'']] and [[HMS Empire Battleaxe|HMS ''Empire Battleaxe'']] to the [[New Hebrides Islands]] and the [[Solomon Islands]] to disembark [[troops]]. She rejoined her escort division at [[Morotai]] on 23 October 1944 and commenced [[Antisubmarine warfare|antisubmarine]] patrols in the waters surrounding the [[Molucca Islands]].
 On 15 November 1944, following a brief stay at [[Mios Woendi]] for [[boiler]] repairs, ''Machias'' steamed with her escort division for the [[Philippine Islands]]. She arrived on 18 November 1944 and, after further repairs, took up antisubmarine patrols off [[Mindanao]], primarily in [[Surigao Strait]]. She continued in this role until 4 December 1944, when she returned to convoy escort duty. For the next three months she escorted ships and carried military personnel to and from [[New Guinea]], the Philippines, the [[Marshall Islands]], and the [[Caroline Islands]].
-''Machias'' departed [[Eniwetok]] for [[Seattle, Washington]], on 19 March 1945 for an [[wikt:overhaul|overhaul]] at [[Puget Sound Navy Yard]] at [[Bremerton, Washington|Bremerton]], Washington. Upon completion of her overhaul in mid‑June 1944, she proceeded to [[Cold Bay, Alaska|Cold Bay]], [[Territory of Alaska]]. She was [[Ship decommissioning|decommissioned]] at Cold Bay on 12 July 1945 in anticipation of her transfer to the [[Soviet Union]] under [[Lend-Lease]].
+''Machias'' departed [[Eniwetok]] for [[Seattle, Washington|Seattle]], [[Washington (U.S. state)|Washington]] on 19 March 1945 for an [[wikt:overhaul|overhaul]] at [[Puget Sound Navy Yard]] at [[Bremerton, Washington|Bremerton]], Washington. Upon completion of her overhaul in June 1944, she proceeded to [[Kodiak, Alaska|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 [[Pacific War|war against Japan]], ''Machias'' joined her [[sister ship]]s {{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|Sandusky|PF-54}} in getting underway from Kodiak on 13 June 1945 bound for [[Cold Bay, Alaska|Cold Bay]], Alaska, where they arrived on 14 June 1945 to enter Project Hula. Training of ''Machias''{{'}}s new Soviet Navy crew soon began at Cold Bay.<ref>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.</ref>
 ===Soviet Navy, 1945–1949===
-On 13 July 1945, ''Machias'' was transferred to the Soviet Union.  She served in the [[Soviet Navy]] as the [[patrol vessel]] ''EK-9'' until October 1949, when she was returned to the custody of the U.S. Navy at [[United States Fleet Activities Yokosuka|Yokosuka Naval Base]] at [[Yokosuka, Kanagawa|Yokosuka]], Japan.
+''Machias'' was [[Ship decommissioning|decommissioned]] on 12 July 1945 at Cold Bay and transferred to the Soviet Union under [[Lend-Lease]] immediately along with nine of her sister ships, the first group of patrol frigates transferred to the Soviet Navy. Commissioned into the Soviet Navy immediately, ''Machias'' was designated as a ''storozhevoi korabl'' ("escort ship") and renamed '''''EK-4''''' in Soviet service. On 15 July 1945, ''EK-4'' departed Cold Bay in company with nine of her sister ships &ndash; ''EK-1'' (ex-''Charlottesville''), ''EK-2'' (ex-''Long Beach''), ''EK-3'' (ex-''Belfast''), ''EK-5'' (ex-''San Pedro''), ''EK-6'' (ex-''Glendale''), ''EK-7'' (ex-''Sandusky''), ''EK-8'' (ex-''Coronado''), ''EK-9'' (ex-''Allentown''), and ''EK-10'' (ex-{{USS|Ogden|PF-39}}) &ndash; bound for [[Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky]] in the Soviet Union. ''EK-4'' served as a patrol vessel in the [[Soviet Far East]].<ref>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.</ref>
-===Japanese Navy, 1953–1971===
-''Machias'' remained at Yokosuka, in a caretaker status, until 14 January 1953, when she was loaned to Japan.  She served the [[Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force]] as '''''Nara'' (PF-2)'''. ''Nara'' was redesignated PF-282 on 1 September 1957.
+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-4'' among them. Negotiations for the return of the ships were protracted, but in October 1949 the Soviet Union finally returned ''EK-4'' to the U.S. Navy at [[United States Fleet Activities Yokosuka|Yokosuka]], Japan.<ref>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.</ref>
+===Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, 1953–1971===
+Reverting to her original name, ''Machias'' remained at Yokosuka in a caretaker status in the [[Pacific Reserve Fleet]] until 14 January 1953, when the United States loaned her to Japan. She served in the [[Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force]] as '''JDS ''Nara'' (PF-2)'''. ''Nara'' was redesignated PF-282 on 1 September 1957.
-''Machias''{{'}}s name was stricken from the [[Navy List]] on 1 December 1961, and ''Nara'' was transferred outright to Japan on 28 August 1962. Decommissioned on 31 March 1966, ''Nara'' was redesignated YTE-3 that day and entered non-commissioned service as a non-self-propelled [[pier]]side [[training ship]]. She was sold for scrapping in 1969.
+The U.S. Navy struck ''Machias''{{'}}s name from the [[Navy List]] on 1 December 1961, and the United States transferred ''Nara'' outright to Japan on 28 August 1962. Decommissioned on 31 March 1966, ''Nara'' was redesignated '''''YTE-3''''' that day and entered non-commissioned service as a non-self-propelled [[pier]]side [[training ship]]. She was sold for scrapping in 1969.
 ==Honors and awards==
-''Machias'' earned two [[battle star]]s for [[World War II]] aervice.
+The U.S. Navy awarded ''Machias'' two [[battle star]]s for her [[World War II]] service.
 == References ==
@@ Line 106: / Line 109: @@
 *[http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-m/pf53.htm Department of the Navy Naval Historical Center Online Library of Selected Images: U.S. Navy Ships: USS ''Machias'' (PF-53), 1944–1953]
 *[http://www.navsource.org/archives/12/08053.htm NavSource Online: Frigate Photo Archive: Machias (PF 53) ex-PG-161]
+{{reflist}}
  <!-- non-breaking space to keep AWB drones from altering the space before the navbox-->
 {{Tacoma class frigate|others}}
+{{Project Hula ships}}
 {{DEFAULTSORT:Machias (PF-53)}}
@@ Line 119: / Line 124: @@
 [[Category:Tacoma-class frigates of the Soviet Navy]]
 [[Category:World War II frigates of the Soviet Union]]
+[[Category:Cold War frigates of the Soviet Union]]
 [[Category:Tacoma-class frigates of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force]]