USS ''San Pedro'' (PF-37), a in commission from 1943 to 1945, thus far has been the only ship of the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

to be named for

San Pedro, California San Pedro ( ; Spanish: " St. Peter") is a neighborhood within the City of Los Angeles, California. Formerly a separate city, it consolidated with Los Angeles in 1909. The Port of Los Angeles, a major international seaport, is partially located wi ...

. She later served in the Soviet Navy as ''EK-5'' and in the

Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force , abbreviated , also simply known as the Japanese Navy, is the maritime warfare branch of the Japan Self-Defense Forces, tasked with the naval defense of Japan. The JMSDF was formed following the dissolution of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) ...

as ''Kaya'' (PF-8), ''Kaya'' (PF-288) and as ''YAC-23''.

Construction and commissioning

Originally classified as a patrol gunboat, PG-145, ''San Pedro'' was reclassified as a patrol frigate, PF-37, on 15 April 1943. She was

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one o ...

under

Maritime Commission The United States Maritime Commission (MARCOM) was an independent executive agency of the U.S. federal government that was created by the Merchant Marine Act of 1936, which was passed by Congress on June 29, 1936, and was abolished on May 24, 195 ...

contract (MC hull 1448) at the

Consolidated Steel Corporation Consolidated Steel Corporation (formed 18 December 1928) was an American steel and shipbuilding business. Consolidated built ships during World War II in two locations: Wilmington, California and Orange, Texas. It was created in 1929 by the merg ...

in Wilmington,

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, on 17 April 1943, launched on 11 June 1943, sponsored by Miss Virginia Ann Massee, and commissioned on 23 October 1943.

Service history

U.S. Navy, World War II, 1943–1945

Following

shakedown Shakedown may refer to: * Shakedown (continuum mechanics), a type of plastic deformation * Shakedown (testing) or a shakedown cruise, a period of testing undergone by a ship, airplane or other craft before being declared operational * Extortion, ...

, ''San Pedro'' departed for the Southwest Pacific. She performed escort duty briefly in the Admiralty Islands at the beginning of April 1944, and at the end of the month became part of forces attempting to consolidate the western

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

area. Her first mission took her to

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, and she subsequently advanced to

Biak Biak is an island located in Cenderawasih Bay near the northern coast of Papua (province), Papua, an Indonesian province, and is just northwest of New Guinea. Biak is the largest island in its small archipelago, and has many atolls, reefs, and c ...

in June 1944,

Noemfoor Island Numfor (also Numfoor, Noemfoor, Noemfoer) is one of the Schouten Islands (also known as the Biak Islands) in Papua province, northeastern Indonesia. It was the site of conflict between Japanese and the Allied forces during World War II, and w ...

in July 1944, and

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in August 1944. During September 1944, she escorted a convoy of

tug A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, suc ...

s and

barge Barge nowadays generally refers to a flat-bottomed inland waterway vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but nowadays most are pushed by pusher boats, or other vessels ...

s to

Morotai Morotai Island ( id, Pulau Morotai) is an island in the Halmahera group of eastern Indonesia's Maluku Islands (Moluccas). It is one of Indonesia's northernmost islands. Morotai is a rugged, forested island lying to the north of Halmahera. It ha ...

with sufficient equipment to set up a fully equipped base for

PT boat A PT boat (short for patrol torpedo boat) was a motor torpedo boat used by the United States Navy in World War II. It was small, fast, and inexpensive to build, valued for its maneuverability and speed but hampered at the beginning of the wa ...

s. On 18 October 1944, ''San Pedro'' departed with a convoy bound for the initial assault on

Leyte Leyte ( ) is an island in the Visayas group of islands in the Philippines. It is eighth-largest and sixth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 2,626,970 as of 2020 census. Since the accessibility of land has be ...

in the Philippine Islands. She helped repulse

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese air attacks beginning on 24 October 1944, shooting down two aircraft before the end of the month. While operations continued ashore, ''San Pedro'' escorted resupply convoys between

and

. On 5 December 1944, a single Japanese plane attacked one of these convoys near Leyte, torpedoed the Liberty ship , and escaped by flying through the convoy at

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height. It then led a companion in for a re-attack and scored a second and fatal hit on the hapless

merchant ship A merchant ship, merchant vessel, trading vessel, or merchantman is a watercraft that transports cargo or carries passengers for hire. This is in contrast to pleasure craft, which are used for personal recreation, and naval ships, which are u ...

. ''San Pedro'' rescued 178 survivors and, at the same time, helped repulse a third attack on the sinking ship. ''San Pedro'' departed the Southwest Pacific on 17 December 1944 and headed toward

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

, for overhaul. Upon completion of repairs, ''San Pedro'' got underway from

Casco Bay, Maine Casco Bay is an inlet of the Gulf of Maine on the southern coast of Maine, New England, United States. Its easternmost approach is Cape Small and its westernmost approach is Two Lights in Cape Elizabeth. The city of Portland sits along its south ...

, on 28 March 1945 as part of Escort Division 25 – which also included her

sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They often share a ...

s (the

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...

), , , , and – bound for

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

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, via the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a conduit ...

. The six patrol frigates arrived at Seattle on 26 April 1945. They got underway again for

Kodiak Kodiak may refer to: Places *Kodiak, Alaska, a city located on Kodiak island * Kodiak, Missouri, an unincorporated community *Kodiak Archipelago, in southern Alaska *Kodiak Island, the largest island of the Kodiak archipelago ** Kodiak Launch Com ...

in the Territory of Alaska on 7 June 1945. ''Ogden'' had to return to Seattle for repairs, but ''Belfast'' and the other four frigates arrived at Womens Bay, Kodiak, on 11 June 1945. On 13 June 1945, ''San Pedro'', ''Long Beach'', ''Belfast'', ''Glendale'', ''Coronado'', and their sister ships , , , and got underway from Kodiak for Cold Bay, Alaska, where they arrived on 14 June 1945 to participate in Project Hula, a secret program for the transfer of U.S. Navy ships to the Soviet Navy in anticipation of the

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joining the war against Japan. Training of ''San Pedro''s new Soviet Navy crew soon began at Cold Bay.

Soviet Navy, 1945–1949

''San Pedro'' was decommissioned on 12 July 1945 at Cold Bay and transferred to the Soviet Union under

Lend-Lease Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (), was a policy under which the United States supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and other Allied nations with food, oil, ...

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, ''San Pedro'' was designated as a ''storozhevoi korabl'' ("escort ship") and renamed ''EK-5'' in Soviet service. On 15 July 1945, ''EK-5'' 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-4'' (ex-''Machias''), ''EK-6'' (ex-''Glendale''), ''EK-7'' (ex-''Sandusky''), ''EK-8'' (ex-''Coronado''), ''EK-9'' (ex-''Allentown''), and ''EK-10'' (ex-''Ogden'') – bound for Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky in the Soviet Union. ''EK-5'' served as a patrol vessel in the Soviet Far East. 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 The secretary of the Navy (or SECNAV) is a statutory officer () and the head (chief executive officer) of the United States Department of the Navy, Department of the Navy, a military department (component organization) within the United States D ...

James V. Forrestal James Vincent Forrestal (February 15, 1892 – May 22, 1949) was the last Cabinet-level United States Secretary of the Navy and the first United States Secretary of Defense. Forrestal came from a very strict middle-class Irish Catholic fami ...

informed the

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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-5'' among them. Negotiations for the return of the ships was protracted, but on 17 October 1949 the Soviet Union finally returned ''EK-5'' to the U.S. Navy at Yokosuka, Japan.Russell, Richard A., ''Project Hula: Secret Soviet-American Cooperation in the War Against Japan'', Washington, D.C.: Naval Historical Center, 1997, , pp. 37–38, 39.

Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, 1953–1978

Reverting to her former name, ''San Pedro'' lay idle until the United States loaned her to

on 2 April 1953, and she entered service in the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force as . ''Kaya'' was redesignated PF-288 on 1 September 1957. The U.S. Navy struck her from the

Navy list A Navy Directory, formerly the Navy List or Naval Register is an official list of naval officers, their ranks and seniority, the ships which they command or to which they are appointed, etc., that is published by the government or naval author ...

on 1 December 1961 and transferred her outright to Japan on 28 August 1962. Later reclassified as an "auxiliary stock craft" and renamed ''YAC-23'', the ship was decommissioned on 1 April 1977, and returned to United States custody on 26 July 1978. She was sunk as a target ship.

Awards

The U.S. Navy awarded ''San Pedro'' four

battle star A service star is a miniature bronze or silver five-pointed star inch (4.8 mm) in diameter that is authorized to be worn by members of the eight uniformed services of the United States on medals and ribbons to denote an additional award or ser ...

s for her

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

service.

References

External links

*
hazegray.org: USS ''San Pedro''
* {{DEFAULTSORT:San Pedro (PF-37) Tacoma-class frigates Ships built in Los Angeles 1943 ships World War II frigates and destroyer escorts of the United States Tacoma-class frigates of the Soviet Navy World War II frigates of the Soviet Union Cold War frigates of the Soviet Union Tacoma-class frigates of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force Ships transferred under Project Hula Ships sunk as targets