Russian members history help needed.

[Mush Martin]

Hi guys, is there any of our members who cant direct me to a website
or book that indicates the fates of the tacoma class frigates referred
to in the wiki

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacoma_class_frigate

Regarding the ones that were transferred to USSR I havent been able to find any reference to their fates in my River Class Frigate Reasearch.

any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
MM

[Foghladh_mhara]

The Tacoma Class Frigates PF-03

The Forgotten Expendables of The Navy

© Christopher Eger
Jul 8, 2007


The Tacoma class frigates were the forgotten, overlooked and almost unwanted ships that got the job done in World War Two and Korea.

The Tacoma class (PF-03) frigates (also referred to as patrol frigates incorrectly) were built in the last part of world war two for use as escorts. They were a modification of the British River class frigate that was simplified for construction in merchant yards to non-naval specifications. This meant that lower quality materials could be used and the ships could be built to a more lenient code with fewer watertight compartments, firefighting and damage control features. They were built on the west coast and great lakes in civilian yards alongside Liberty ships and oilers. A number of ships that were made on the Great Lakes sailed down the Mississippi River to be commissioned, stopping at some small towns that had last seen a US Navy ship during the Civil War.
They weighed 1264 tons standard, were 303 feet in length, and carried three 3-inch guns, 4x40mm Bofors guns, 9x20mm guns, a hedgehog device and depth charges. They had issues with their prolusion plant: Three boilers fed two 5500hp triple expansion reciprocating engines that were difficult to align in construction. Several of the class experienced catastrophic engine malfunctions on builder’s trails and had to be rebuilt. The power plant, when operating properly only propelled the ships at twenty knots. This was fast for a merchant vessel but dangerously slow for a destroyer sized ship. However the power plant did allow for a long cruising range of some 9500 miles, twice that of their destroyer big brothers. The ships were regarded as comfortable and very seaworthy. All of the frigates in US service were crewed by members of the US Coast Guard who were called into US Navy service.
The frigates were to have numbered 99-ships. Of this amount four ships (PF-95-98) were canceled before they could be completed. Seventy-four were completed for the US Navy and named after small towns (USS Poughkeepsie, USS Gulfport, USS Sheboygan, etc) that had traditionally never had a navy ship named after them. USS Tacoma (PF-03), the first ship of the class was laid down on March 10, 1943 and commissioned just over seven months later in November 1943. The last ship of the class, USS Forsyth- (PF-102) was commissioned February 1, 1945 only three months before the end of the war in Europe.
In US wartime service the ships distinguished themselves in their very short operational careers. They protected convoys, patrolled for submarines, served as floating weather stations (with the after 3-inch gun replaced by a weather balloon hanger), rescued downed pilots, provided naval gunfire support and acted as amphibious warfare control boats. Two ships landed US Army Rangers in the Philippines in special operations. The seventy-four US Navy ships of this class earned over 150 battle stars for service in World War Two and nearly fifty battle stars for the Korean conflict and were responsible for sinking at least one enemy warship. 28 of these frigates were later loaned to the Soviet Union's Pacific fleet as war aide. These ships were returned to the United States in Japan in 1949. One of the ships in Russian service, USS Belfast (PF-35), was ran aground in 1948 off the Siberian coast and wrecked. During the Korean conflict many of these retuned ships were recommissioned and they filled a role as "flycatcher boats" on anti-small-boat, anti-swimmer and anti-suicide craft patrols in shallow water near beaches and harbors among other assignments.
21 frigates were completed separately for the Royal Navy (PF-72-92) where they were known as the Colony class frigates as they were named after British Crown colonies (examples - HMS Barbados, HMS Bahamas, etc). They were all constructed by Kaiser in Rhode Island. They saw significant service and sank no less than six U-boats during the war along with supporting the invasion of Europe and spotting V-1 missiles. These ships were returned to the United States in 1948.
For all of their service the US Navy rapidly removed the frigates from service. The last frigate in the US Navy was the USS Bayonne (PF-21) which was decommissioned and given away in 1953. Typical for her class she had spent only twenty five months of her eight year US naval career in commission but had won five battle stars and fought in two wars. She and the rest of her class went on to provide yeomen service around the world for another fifty years under the flags of no less than fourteen other navies
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[Mush Martin]

Thanks mhara thats a tidbit I didnt have at least
M

[Jimbuna]

I honestly haven't had time to look, but there might be something of use here....if you don't already have this link that is :hmm:

http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/s...rus/index.html

Edit......or here even: http://warships.web4u.cz/staty.php?language=

[bigboywooly]

Aye

http://www.warshipsww2.eu/lode.php?l...d=&idtrida=407

Given back to US then sold to Japan
Except for EK3 which sank ( USS Belfast )

Odd that the Russians only have entries for 11 Tacomas though

[Mush Martin]

Beutiful I didnt have it thanks there Jimbuna and BBW

I at least have the names now for eleven of them to

run. it should help. thanks again.
MM