USS Annapolis (PF-15)

USS "Annapolis" (PF-15), a "Tacoma"-class frigate, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for Annapolis, Maryland. The United States Naval Academy is located in Annapolis.

The second "Annapolis" (PF-15) was laid down on 20 May 1943 at Lorain, Ohio, by the American Ship Building Company; launched on 16 October 1943, sponsored by Mrs. Belva Grace McCready; and commissioned on 4 December 1944 at Galveston, Texas, with Commander M. F. Garfield, USCG, in command.

On 13 December, the patrol frigate departed Galveston to conduct shakedown training in waters surrounding Bermuda. She conducted those exercises between 19 December 1944 and 17 January 1945. The warship arrived in Norfolk, Virginia, on 21 January and commenced post-shakedown availability. She concluded repairs on 17 February, and that same day, stood out of Norfolk to screen a convoy to the Mediterranean Sea. "Annapolis" shepherded her convoy into Oran, Algeria, on 5 March and remained there until the 13th when she got underway to escort a return convoy to the United States. She entered port at New York on 30 March. Following a period of escort duty between Norfolk and New York, she departed the latter port in the screen of another convoy bound for North Africa. "Annapolis" reached Oran on 10 May and departed there a week later. The patrol frigate saw her convoy safely into Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 2 June and remained there for a fortnight.

On 16 June, she got underway for the Panama Canal Zone. She arrived in the Canal Zone on 29 June and operated from the submarine base at Coco Solo until early August. On 6 August, she arrived at San Pedro, California, and began duty along the west coast with the U.S. Pacific Fleet. That duty lasted through the end of the war and into 1946. On 29 May 1946, she was decommissioned at Bremerton, Washington.

Her name was struck from the Navy list on 19 June 1946. On 24 November 1947, she was sold to the Mexican government through the Foreign Liquidation Commission of the State Department. The ship was renamed "General Vicente Guerrero". It would again be renamed "Rio Usumacinta" before being scrapped in 1964.

References

*DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/a9/annapolis-ii.htm

External links

* [http://www.navsource.org/archives/12/08015.htm navsource.org: USS "Annapolis"]
* [http://www.hazegray.org/danfs/patrol/pf15.htm hazegray.org: USS "Annapolis"]