USS Poughkeepsie (PF-26)

USS Poughkeepsie (PF-26), a Tacoma-class frigate in commission from 1944 to 1945, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for Poughkeepsie, New York. She later served in the Soviet Navy as EK-27 and in the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force as JDS Momi (PF-4), JDS Momi (PF-284), and as YAC-13.

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

JDS Momi in 1953
History
United States
NamePoughkeepsie
NamesakeCity of Poughkeepsie, New York
ReclassifiedPF-26, 15 April 1943
BuilderWalter Butler Shipbuilding Company, Superior, Wisconsin
Yard number23
Laid down3 June 1943
Launched12 August 1943
Sponsored byMrs. Frank M. Doran
Commissioned6 September 1944
Decommissioned2 September 1945[1]
FateTransferred to Soviet Navy, 2 September 1945[1]
AcquiredReturned by Soviet Navy, 31 October 1949
In servicewith Shipping Control Authority for the Japanese Merchant Marine, 1951
FateTransferred to Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, 14 January 1953
Stricken1 December 1961
Soviet Union
NameEK-27[2]
Acquired2 September 1945[1]
Commissioned2 September 1945[1]
FateReturned to United States, 31 October 1949
Japan
NameMomi
Acquired14 January 1953
RenamedYAC-13, 1 April 1965
Decommissioned1 April 1965
FateTransferred to South Korea for cannibalization for spare parts, early 1969
General characteristics
Class and typeTacoma-class frigate
Displacement
  • 1,430 long tons (1,453 t) light
  • 2,415 long tons (2,454 t) full
Length303 ft 11 in (92.63 m)
Beam37 ft 6 in (11.43 m)
Draft13 ft 8 in (4.17 m)
Propulsion
  • 2 × 5,500 shp (4,101 kW) turbines
  • 3 boilers
  • 2 shafts
Speed20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Complement190
Armament

Construction and commissioning

Originally classified as a patrol gunboat, PG-134, Poughkeepsie was reclassified as a patrol frigate, PF-26, on 15 April 1943. She was laid down for the Maritime Commission on 3 June 1943, by the Walter Butler Shipbuilding Company, Inc., in Superior, Wisconsin, and launched on 12 August 1943, sponsored by Mrs. Frank M. Doran. The ship was transferred to the US Navy and 'commissioned on 6 September 1944.

Service history

U.S. Navy, World War II, 1944-1945

After shakedown off Bermuda, Poughkeepsie called at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for post-shakedown repairs from 29 October 1944 through 31 January 1945. During February and March 1945, she made one convoy escort run to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Then, after anti-submarine warfare training in the New London Operating Area off New London, Connecticut, at the end of March 1945, she commenced antisubmarine patrols and convoy escort duties along the United States East Coast, operating between New York City and Norfolk, Virginia, through 3 July 1945.

Selected for transfer to the Soviet Navy in Project Hula, a secret program for the transfer of U.S. Navy ships to the Soviet Navy at Cold Bay in the Territory of Alaska in anticipation of the Soviet Union joining the war against Japan, Poughkeepsie stood out of New York Harbor on 9 July 1945, transited the Panama Canal, reported to Commander, United States Pacific Fleet, for duty, and put in at Seattle, Washington, for repairs and alterations in preparation for her transfer. Upon completion of these, she proceeded to Cold Bay and soon began the training of her new Soviet crew.[3]

Soviet Navy, 1945–1949

Following the completion of training for her Soviet crew, Poughkeepsie was decommissioned on 2 September 1945[1] at Cold Bay and transferred to the Soviet Union under Lend-Lease immediately[1] along with her sister ship USS Bayonne (PF-21). Commissioned into the Soviet Navy immediately,[1] Poughkeepsie was designated as a storozhevoi korabl ("escort ship") and renamed EK-27[2] in Soviet service. She soon departed Cold Bay bound for Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky in the Soviet Union. Too late for World War II service with the Soviet Navy, EK-27 served as a patrol vessel in the Soviet Far East.[4]

In February 1946, the United States began negotiations for the return of ships loaned to the Soviet Union. 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-27 among them. Negotiations for the return of the ships were protracted, but on 31 October 1949 the Soviet Union finally returned EK-27 to the U.S. Navy at Yokosuka, Japan.[5]

Shipping Control Authority for the Japanese Merchant Marine, 1951

Reverting to her original name, Poughkeepsie remained at Yokosuka in an inactive status until nominated for transfer to the Allied Shipping Control Authority for the Japanese Merchant Marine on 23 March 1951 for duty as a weather ship.

Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, 1953-1969
For other ships with the same name, see Japanese ship Momi.

The United States loaned the ship to Japan on 14 January 1953 for use in the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, which renamed her JDS Momi (PF-4) (もみ (PF-4), "abies firma").[6] Momi was redesignated PF-284 on 1 September 1957.[6] The U.S. Navy struck her from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 December 1961 and transferred her to Japan outright on 28 August 1962.

Decommissioned on 1 April 1965, Momi was reclassified as an "auxiliary stock craft" (YAC), renamed YAC-13,[6] and used thereafter as a non-operable dockside training ship until early 1969, when she was transferred to South Korea to be cannibalized for spare parts for the Republic of Korea Navy's Tacoma-class frigates.

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 Poughkeepsie article states that Poughkeepsie was transferred on 2 October 1945 and NavSource Online: Frigate Photo Archive Poughkeepsie (PF 26) ex-PG-134 and hazegray.org Poughkeepsie both repeat this, with NavSource adding that the U.S. Navy decommissioned the ship on 1 October 1945, 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, pp. 34-35, which includes access to Soviet-era records unavailable during the Cold War, reports that the transfer date was 2 September 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. Moreoover, Russell, pp. 34-35, makes clear that no ships were transferred under Project Hula after 4 September 1945 and that all Project Hula transfers were ordered halted on 5 September 1945. According to Russell, Project Hula ships were decommissioned by the U.S. Navy simultaneously with their transfer to the Soviet 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 – indicating that Poughkeepsie's U.S. Navy decommissioning, transfer, and Soviet Navy commissioning all occurred simultaneously on 2 September 1945.
  2. NavSource Online: Frigate Photo Archive Poughkeepsie (PF 26) ex-PG-134 states that Poughkeepsie was named EK-25 in Soviet service, 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-27. 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. Russell, Richard A. (1997). Project Hula: Secret Soviet-American Cooperation in the War Against Japan. Washington, D.C.: Naval Historical Center. p. 35. ISBN 0-945274-35-1.
  4. Russell 1997, pp. 34–35, 39.
  5. Russell 1997, pp. 37–39.
  6. The Naval Database.
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