USS Allentown (PF-52)
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USS ''Allentown'' (PF-52), a United States Navy in commission from 1944 to 1945, has thus far been the only U.S. Navy ship to be named for
Allentown, Pennsylvania Allentown (Pennsylvania Dutch language, Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Allenschteddel'', ''Allenschtadt'', or ''Ellsdaun'') is a city in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. The city has a population of 125,845 as of the 2020 United ...
. 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''.


Construction and commissioning

''Allentown'' was laid down on 23 March 1943, at the
Froemming Brothers, Inc. Froemming Brothers of Milwaukee, Wisconsin was a shipyard that built ships for World War II under the emergency shipbuilding program, War Shipping Administration and United States Navy. Froemming Brothers shipyard was opened in 1942 by Be ...
,
shipyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance a ...
in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, under a Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 1477). Launched on 3 July 1943, sponsored by Miss Joyce E. Beary, she was moved to New Orleans, Louisiana, where she fitted out and was commissioned on 24 March 1944.


Service history


U.S. Navy, World War II, 1944–1945

''Allentown'' departed New Orleans on 3 April 1944 bound for
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, ...
training at Bermuda. After about a month of training, she set a course for New York City escorting the Norwegian merchant ship SS ''Norden''. She arrived in New York on 13 May 1944 and underwent post-shakedown repairs and alterations. Near the end of June 1944, she stood out of New York in the screen of a convoy. She arrived at Norfolk, Virginia, on 28 June 1944 and entered the Norfolk Navy Yard at Portsmouth, Virginia, for additional repairs. She completed repairs in mid-August 1944 and returned to New York, where she arrived on 16 August 1944. Soon thereafter, she returned to sea as a unit of Escort Division 33 in the screen of a convoy bound for the Pacific. Steaming via the Panama Canal and Bora Bora in the Society Islands, ''Allentown'' reached the northern coast of New Guinea at the end of September 1944. She then began
patrol A patrol is commonly a group of personnel, such as Law enforcement officer, law enforcement officers, military personnel, or Security guard, security personnel, that are assigned to monitor or secure a specific geographic area. Etymology Fro ...
and escort duty in the New Guinea area. At the end of October 1944, she participated briefly in the occupation of the island of
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 ...
in the
Molucca Islands The Maluku Islands (; Indonesian: ''Kepulauan Maluku'') or the Moluccas () are an archipelago in the east of Indonesia. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone. Geographically they are located eas ...
. In mid-November 1944, she began escorting convoys between
Hollandia Hollandia may refer to: * HVV Hollandia, Dutch football team * Hollandia Victoria Combinatie, defunct Dutch football team * ''Hollandia'' (1742 ship), a ship of the Dutch East India Company, wrecked in 1743 on her maiden voyage * Jayapura, a city ...
, New Guinea, and Leyte in the Philippine Islands in support of the U.S. invasion there. Those duties and convoy-escort missions between the various islands of the Philippine archipelago occupied her time until early March 1945. On 9 March, ''Allentown'' joined the escort of a Ulithi-bound convoy on the first leg of her voyage back to the United States. She arrived at the Puget Sound Navy Yard in Bremerton, Washington, on 7 April 1945. After completing an overhaul, ''Allentown'' departed Puget Sound on 7 June 1945, bound 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. 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, ''Allentown'' joined 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 , , , , , , , and 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 ''Allentown''s new Soviet Navy crew soon began at Cold Bay.


Soviet Navy, 1945–1949

''Allentown'' 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, ''Allentown'' was designated as a ''storozhevoi korabl'' ("escort ship") and renamed ''EK-9'' in Soviet service. On 15 July 1945, ''EK-9'' 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-5'' (ex-''San Pedro''), ''EK-6'' (ex-''Glendale''), ''EK-7'' (ex-''Sandusky''), ''EK-8'' (ex-''Coronado''), and ''EK-10'' (ex-) – bound for Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky in the Soviet Union. ''EK-9'' 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
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 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-9'' among them. Negotiations for the return of the ships were protracted, but on 15 October 1949 the Soviet Union finally returned ''EK-9'' to the U.S. Navy at Yokosuka, Japan.


Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, 1953–1971

Reverting to her former name, ''Allentown'' remained at Yokosuka, laid up in the
Pacific Reserve Fleet The United States Navy maintains a number of its ships as part of a reserve fleet, often called the "Mothball Fleet". While the details of the maintenance activity have changed several times, the basics are constant: keep the ships afloat and ...
, until 2 April 1953 when she was loaned to
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 ...
. She served the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force as . ''Ume'' was redesignated PF-289 on 1 September 1957. The United States struck her name from the Navy list on 1 December 1961 and transferred her to Japan on a permanent basis on 28 August 1962. ''Ume'' was reclassified as an "auxiliary stock craft" and renamed ''YAC-14'' on 31 March 1965. Decommissioned on 31 March 1970, she was returned to U.S. custody on 12 July 1971 and broken up in Taiwan later that year.


Awards

The U.S. Navy awarded ''Allentown'' two battle stars for her World War II service.


References


External links

*
hazegray.org: USS ''Allentown''pf52.org: USS ''Allentown''
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Allentown (PF-52) Tacoma-class frigates Ships built in Milwaukee 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