USS Allentown (PF-52)

USS "Allentown" (PF-52), a "Tacoma"-class frigate, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for Allentown, Pennsylvania.

"Allentown" (PF-52) was laid down on 23 March 1943 at the Froemming Brothers, Inc. shipyard in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, under a Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 1477); launched on 3 July 1943, sponsored by Miss Joyce E. Beary; moved to New Orleans, Louisiana, where she was outfitted and placed in commission on 24 March 1944, with Commander Garland W. Collins, USCG, in command.

"Allentown" departed New Orleans on 3 April bound for Bermuda and shakedown training. After about a month of training, the patrol frigate set a course for New York escorting the Norwegian merchantman SS "Norden". She arrived in New York on 13 May and underwent post-shakedown repairs and alterations. Near the end of June, she stood out of New York in the screen of a convoy. She arrived at Norfolk, Virginia, on 28 June entered the navy yard for additional repairs. She completed repairs in mid-August and returned north to New York where she arrived on the 16th. Soon thereafter, the patrol frigate 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. The patrol frigate then began patrol and escort duty in the Netherlands East Indies. At the end of October, the warship participated briefly in the occupation of the island of Morotai in the Molucca Islands. In mid-November, she began escorting convoys between Hollandia and Leyte in support of the troops reconquering the Philippines. Those duties and convoy-escort missions between the various islands of the Philippine archipelago occupied her time until early March of 1945. On 9 March, "Allentown" joined the escort of a Ulithi-bound convoy on the first leg of the voyage back to the United States. The warship arrived at the Puget Sound Navy Yard on 7 April.

After completing an overhaul, the patrol frigate departed Puget Sound on 7 June, bound for Alaskan waters. She arrived at Cold Bay, Alaska, on the Aleutian Peninsula on 15 June. For about a month, "Allentown" participated in drills and exercises. On 12 July 1945, she was decommissioned at Cold Bay and, the next day, was transferred to the Soviet Union under a lend-lease agreement. The warship served in the Soviet Navy as EK-8 until 15 October 1949 at which time she was returned to the custody of the United States Navy at Yokosuka, Japan. "Allentown" remained at Yokosuka, in a caretaker status, until 2 April 1953 when she was loaned to Japan. The patrol frigate served the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force as "Ume" (PF-289). Her name was struck from the Navy list on 1 December 1961, and she was transferred to Japan on a permanent basis on 28 August 1962.

"Allentown" earned two battle stars during World War II.

References

External links

* [http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/a7/allentown.htm history.navy.mil: USS "Allentown"]
* [http://www.navsource.org/archives/12/08052.htm navsource.org: USS "Allentown"]
* [http://www.hazegray.org/danfs/patrol/pf52.htm hazegray.org: USS "Allentown"]
* [http://www.pf52.org pf52.org: USS "Allentown"]