USS Coronado (PF-38)
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USS ''Coronado'' (PG-146/PF-38), a , was the first 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 ...
named for
Coronado, California Coronado (Spanish for "Crowned") is a resort city located in San Diego County, California, United States, across the San Diego Bay from downtown San Diego. It was founded in the 1880s and incorporated in 1890. Its population was 24,697 at the ...
, a city adjacent to
Naval Air Station North Island Naval Air Station North Island or NAS North Island , at the north end of the Coronado peninsula on San Diego Bay in San Diego, California, is part of the largest aerospace-industrial complex in the United States Navy – Naval Base Coronado (N ...
in San Diego. After
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 in the U.S. Navy, she served in the Soviet Navy as ''EK-8'' and later 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 ''Sugi'' (PF-5) and ''Sugi'' (PF-285).


Construction and commissioning

Originally classified as a patrol gunboat, PG-146, ''Coronado'' was reclassified as a patrol frigate 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 ...
by 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 ...
of
Wilmington, California Wilmington is a neighborhood in the Harbor region of Los Angeles, California, covering . Featuring a heavy concentration of industry and the third-largest oil field in the continental United States, this neighborhood has a high percentage of Lat ...
, under a
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 Type T. S2-S2-AQ1) on 6 May 1943. She was launched on 17 June 1943, sponsored by Mrs. J. R. Crutchfield, and commissioned on 17 November 1943.


Service history


U.S. Navy, World War II, 1944–1945

''Coronado'' sailed from San Diego, California, on 8 February 1944, for convoy escort duty to Nouméa,
New Caledonia ) , anthem = "" , image_map = New Caledonia on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of New Caledonia , map_caption = Location of New Caledonia , mapsize = 290px , subdivision_type = Sovereign st ...
, and
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,
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, en route to
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 ...
, arriving there on 25 March. After escorting troop and cargo transports to Manus to support the landings there, she returned to the New Guinea area for the operations in the western part of that island, taking part in the landings on
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 ...
from 28 May to 17 June, at
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from 15 to 18 August, and on
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on 15 September. ''Coronado'' sailed from
Humboldt Bay Humboldt Bay is a natural bay and a multi-basin, bar-built coastal lagoon located on the rugged North Coast of California, entirely within Humboldt County, United States. It is the largest protected body of water on the West Coast between Sa ...
on 10 October 1944, to join in the Leyte operation, and served on escort and patrol duty between
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and New Guinea until 15 December 1944. She arrived at
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,
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 ...
, on 24 January 1945 for an overhaul of her main engines and boilers and various modifications, followed by refresher training in
Casco Bay 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 ...
,
Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...
. On 28 March 1945, Escort Division 25, consisting of ''Coronado'' and 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 , departed Casco Bay bound for
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,
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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 ...
, arriving at Seattle on 26 April 1945. She was moored at the Lake Union Lumber Company Pier there from 30 April to 16 May 1945, undergoing voyage repairs and further alterations by
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contractors. In late May and early June 1945, she underwent tests and loaded ammunition. The six patrol frigates of Escort Division 25 got underway 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 ''Coronado'' and the other four frigates arrived at Womens Bay, Kodiak, on 11 June 1945. On 13 June 1945, 43 of her men transferred ashore for reassignment, and later that day ''Coronado'', ''Long Beach'', ''Belfast'', ''Glendale'', ''San Pedro'', 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
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
joining the war against Japan. On 16 June 1945, ''Coronado''s ships doctor and two of her deck officers transferred ashore for reassignment and, after she passed a material inspection on 17 June, two Soviet Navy officers and 48 Soviet sailors reported aboard for training on 18 June 1945. On 25 June, she received four more Soviet officers – one of them designated to serve as her commanding officer after her transfer to the Soviet Navy – and 45 more Soviet sailors for training, and by 1 July 1945, her entire Soviet crew of 12 officers and 178 enlisted men was aboard. Most of her American crew transferred off the ship at the same time, leaving her with a nucleus American crew of four officers and 44 enlisted men to
decommission Decommissioning is a general term for a formal process to remove something from an active status, and may refer to: Infrastructure * Decommissioned offshore * Decommissioned highway * Greenfield status of former industrial sites * Nuclear decommi ...
her.Russell, Richard A., ''Project Hula: Secret Soviet-American Cooperation in the War Against Japan'', Washington, D.C.: Naval Historical Center, 1997, , p. 26. Training of ''Coronado''s new Soviet Navy crew began on 26 June 1945, and she put to sea with them aboard for the first time on 28 June. Soviet crewmen conducted gunnery practice that day, and the Americans aboard demonstrated fueling, towing at sea, and use of her
sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigation, navigate, measure distances (ranging), communicate with or detect o ...
equipment on 29 June 1945. On 30 June, the Soviet crew took complete control of the operation of the ship. Long days of training continued every day until completed on 8 July 1945. Three days of fueling and provisioning ''Coronado'' followed in preparation for her formal transfer to the Soviet Navy.


Soviet Navy, 1945–1949

''Coronado'' was decommissioned 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 10 patrol frigates transferred to the Soviet Navy. Commissioned into the Soviet Navy immediately, she was designated as a ''storozhevoi korabl'' ("escort ship") and renamed ''EK-8'' in Soviet service. On 15 July 1945, ''EK-8'' departed Cold Bay in company with her nine 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-9'' (ex-''Allentown''), and ''EK-10'' (ex-''Ogden'') – bound for Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky in the Soviet Union. ''EK-8'' served as a patrol vessel in the Soviet Far East. In February 1946, the United States began negotiations with the Soviet Union for the return of ships loaned to the Soviet Navy 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 informed the
United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other n ...
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-8'' among them. Negotiations for the return of the ships was protracted,Russell, Richard A., ''Project Hula: Secret Soviet-American Cooperation in the War Against Japan'', Washington, D.C.: Naval Historical Center, 1997, , pp. 37–38. but the Soviet Union finally returned ''EK-8'' to the United States at Yokosuka, Japan, on 16 October 1949.


Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, 1953–1971

Returning to her original name, ''Coronado'' was placed in reserve at Yokosuka until 14 January 1953, when she became one of the first ships the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
loaned to Japan under the
Mutual Defense Assistance Program The Mutual Defense Assistance Act was a United States Act of Congress signed by President Harry S. Truman on 6 October 1949. For US Foreign policy, it was the first U.S. military foreign aid legislation of the Cold War era, and initially to Eur ...
to serve in the Japanese
Safety Security Force , also simply known as the Coastal Security Force, was an organization under the jurisdiction of the National Safety Agency, and existed from 1 August 1952 to 30 June 1954 in Japan. It was a maritime security agency established for the purpose o ...
as . She simultaneously was assigned to the 2nd Fleet, which was created that day, along with 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 ...
''Matsu'' (ex-, similarly lent to Japan. ''Sugi'' and ''Matsu'' were assigned to the Yokosuka District Force. On 1 April 1953, the 2nd Fleet became part of the newly created 1st Fleet Group. The 2nd Fleet later was renamed the 2nd Escort Corps. In 1954, the Safety Security Force became 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) ...
(JMSDF). On 10 May 1957, the 2nd Escort Corps was abolished and its ships became part of the new 1st Training Corps, under which ''Sugi'' participated in the 1st Training Corps's first two oceanic training voyages.''Sugi'' was redesignated PF-285 on 1 September 1957 and was transferred to the Kure District Force on 10 December 1964. The JMSDF decommissioned ''Sugi'' on 31 March 1969 and returned her to U.S. custody on 9 July 1971. The United States subsequently allocated her to Japan for use as a
target ship A target ship is a vessel — typically an obsolete or captured warship — used as a seaborne target for naval gunnery practice or for weapons testing. Targets may be used with the intention of testing effectiveness of specific types of ammuniti ...
, and a JMSDF escort ship sank her as a target in the Pacific Ocean south of Nojimazaki on 10 August 1971.


Awards

The U.S. Navy awarded ''Coronado'' 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 service, for the Bismarck Archipelago operation, the
Hollandia operation The Battle of Hollandia (code-named Operation Reckless) was an engagement between Allies of World War II and Japanese forces during World War II. The majority of the Allied force was provided by the United States, with the bulk of two United Sta ...
, the Western New Guinea operation, and the Leyte Gulf operation.


References

*


External links

*
hazegray.org: USS ''Coronado'' PF-38
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Coronado (Pf-38) 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 Tacoma-class frigates of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force Ships transferred under Project Hula Maritime incidents in 1971 Ships sunk as targets Shipwrecks in the Pacific Ocean