USS Glendale (PF-36)

USS ''Glendale'' (PF-36), a patrol frigate, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for Glendale, California. In commission in the US Navy from 1943 to 1945, and from 1950 to 1951, she also served in the Soviet Navy as ''EK-6'' from 1945 to 1949 and in the Royal Thai Navy as ''Tachin'' (PF-1) from 1951 to 2000.

Construction and commissioning

Originally classified as a patrol gunboat, PG-144, ''Glendale'' was reclassified as a patrol frigate, PF-36, on 15 April 1943. She was launched on 28 May 1943, at the Consolidated Steel Corporation shipyard in Los Angeles, California, sponsored by Miss Shirley Schlichtman and commissioned on 1 October 1943.

Service history

World War II, 1944-1945

Following shakedown off Southern California, ''Glendale'' departed San Diego, California, on 12 January 1944 and reached Cairns, Australia, on 17 February 1944. Until late 1944, she served as an anti-submarine and anti-aircraft escort ship based in New Guinea, protecting arriving and departing merchant ships.

In September 1944, ''Glendale'' took part in the assault on Morotai Island, departing Humboldt Bay, New Guinea, on 14 September 1944 to escort merchant ships to the island. She returned to Humboldt Bay on 24 September 1944 to continue escort assignments between New Guinea and the Philippine Islands.

On 5 December 1944, ''Glendale'' was escorting a convoy from Hollandia to Leyte in the Philippines when attacking Japanese aircraft sank SS ''Antoine Saugrain'', a cargo ship laden with valuable radar materiel, and severely damaged the merchant ship . ''Glendale'' brought the rest of the convoy safely into Leyte the next day.

''Glendale'' departed Leyte on 8 December 1944 bound for the Atlantic Ocean and moored at Boston, Massachusetts, on 24 January 1945.

After overhaul, ''Glendale'' got underway from Casco Bay, Maine, on 28 March 1945 as part of Escort Division 25 – which also included her sister ships (the flagship), , , , and – bound for Seattle, Washington, via the Panama Canal. The six patrol frigates arrived at Seattle on 26 April 1945. They got underway again for Kodiak 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, ''Glendale'', ''Long Beach'', ''Belfast'', ''San Pedro'', ''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 Soviet Union joining the war against Japan. Training of ''Glendale''s new Soviet Navy crew soon began at Cold Bay.

Soviet Navy, 1945–1949

''Glendale'' was decommissioned on 12 July 1945 at Cold Bay and transferred to the Soviet Union under Lend-Lease immediately along with nine of her sister ships. This was the first group of patrol frigates transferred to the Soviet Navy. When her commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander Ambrose Simko, handed ''Glendale'' over to the Soviet Navy, he as well as the commanding officers of the other nine transferred patrol frigates received custom daggers made for each of them as gifts from the Soviets. Commissioned into the Soviet Navy immediately, ''Glendale'' was designated as a ''storozhevoi korabl'' ("escort ship") and renamed ''EK-6'' in Soviet service. On 15 July 1945, ''EK-6'' 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-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-6'' 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 James V. Forrestal 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-6'' among them. Negotiations for the return of the ships was protracted, but on 16 November 1949 the Soviet Union finally returned ''EK-6'' 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.

Korean War, 1950–1951

Reverting to her old name. ''Glendale'' was recommissioned into the U.S. Navy on 11 October 1950 for service in the Korean War. In December 1950, the ship patrolled off Hungnam, Pusan, and Inchon, Korea, in support of United Nations forces fighting ashore. On 29 October 1951, she was decommissioned again and transferred along with her sister ship to the Government of Thailand. The U.S. Navy struck ''Glendale'' from the Navy List on 20 November 1951.

Royal Thai Navy, 1951-2000

The ship served in the Royal Thai Navy as HTMS ''Tachin'' (PF-1), later reclassified PF-411. She was decommissioned on 22 June 2000 at Sattahip Naval Base.

Museum ship

Dismantled and transported by truck to the Armed Forces Academies Preparatory School in Nakhon Nayok Province, Thailand, ''Tachin'' was re-assembled and has been on display there since 9 July 2001 with all her original armament intact.

Awards

The U.S. Navy awarded ''Glendale'' five battle stars for her World War II service and four battle stars for her Korean War service. She also received the Korean Presidential Unit Citation for her actions during the Korean War.

References

External links

*
hazegray.org: USS ''Glendale''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Glendale (PF-36)
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 and destroyer escorts of the United States
Cold War frigates of the Soviet Union
Korean War frigates and destroyer escorts of the United States
Tacoma-class frigates of the Royal Thai Navy
Museum ships in Thailand
Glendale, California
Ships transferred under Project Hula