USS Allentown

USS Allentown (PF-52) underway near Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Virginia, on 9 August 1944. She is painted in Measure 32/16D dazzle camouflage.
History
United States
NameAllentown
NamesakeCity of Allentown, Pennsylvania
BuilderFroemming Brothers, Inc., Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Laid down23 March 1943
ReclassifiedPF-52, 15 April 1943
Launched3 July 1943
Sponsored byMiss Joyce E. Beary
Commissioned24 March 1944
Decommissioned12 July 1945
Honors and
awards
2 battle stars, World War II
FateTransferred to the Soviet Navy 12 July 1945[1]
AcquiredReturned by Soviet Navy, 15 October 1949
FateTransferred to Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, 2 April 1953
Stricken1 December 1961
AcquiredReturned by Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, 12 July 1971
FateBroken up in Taiwan 1971
Soviet Union
NameEK-9[2]
Acquired12 July 1945[1]
Commissioned12 July 1945[3]
FateReturned to United States, 15 October 1949
Japan
NameUme
Acquired2 April 1953
RenamedYAC-14, 31 March 1965
ReclassifiedAuxiliary stock craft (YAC), 31 March 1965
Decommissioned31 March 1970
FateReturned to United States, 12 July 1971
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
USS Allentown (PF-52) underway in the Atlantic Ocean off Hampton Roads, Virginia, on 9 August 1944. She is painted in Measure 32/16D dazzle camouflage.

USS Allentown (PF-52), a United States Navy Tacoma-class frigate in commission from 1944 to 1945, has thus far been the only U.S. Navy ship to be named for Allentown, Pennsylvania. She later served in the Soviet Navy as EK-9 and in the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force as JDS Ume (PF-9), JDS Ume (PF-289) and as YAC-14.

  1. ^ a b The Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships Allentown article states that Allentown was transferred to the Soviet Navy on 13 July 1945, and NavSource Online: Frigate Photo Archive Allentown (PF 52) ex-PG-160 and hazegray.org Allentown repeat this date, but more recent research in 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 transfer date was 12 July 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.
  2. ^ NavSource Online: Frigate Photo Archive Albuquerque (PF 7) ex-PG-115 asserts that Albuquerque was named EK-8 in Soviet Navy service without citing a source for this name, 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-9. 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. The Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships Allentown article also states that the ship's Soviet name was EK-9, and hazegray.org Allentown repeats the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships text.
  3. ^ According to 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, which includes access to Soviet-era records unavailable during the Cold War, Project Hula ships were commissioned into the Soviet Navy simultaneously with their transfer from the U.S. 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. 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.