USS Casper (PF-12)

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Career

Ordered:
Laid down:
Launched:	27 December 1943
Commissioned:	31 March 1944
Decommissioned:	16 May 1946
Struck:
Fate:	Sold 20 May 1947
General Characteristics
Displacement:	1,430 tons (light), 2,415 tons (full)
Length:	303 ft 11 in (92.6 m)
Beam:	37 ft 6 in (11.4 m)
Draft:	13 ft 8 in (4.1 m)
Propulsion:	Three boilers 2 × 5,500 SHP turbines two shafts
Speed:	20 knots (37 km/h)
Range:
Complement:	190
Armament:	3 × 3 in/50 AA guns (3x1) 4 × 40mm guns (2x2) 9 × 20mm (9x1) 1 × Hedgehog projector 8 × Y-gun depth charge projectors 2 × depth charge racks
Motto:

USS Casper (PF-12), a Tacoma-class frigate, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for Casper, Wyoming.

Casper (PF-12) was launched on 27 December 1943 at the Kaiser Cargo Company shipyard in Richmond, California, under a Maritime Commission contract, sponsored by Mrs. E. J. Spaulding; and commissioned on 31 March 1944, with Lieutenant Commander F. J. Scheiber, USCG, in command

Upon commissioning, Casper reported to the Western Sea Frontier. Casper sailed from San Francisco, California, on 30 September 1944 for a weather patrol out of Seattle, returning to San Francisco 6 November. From this base, she operated as plane guard, and on weather patrol, performing these vital functions between the mainland and Pearl Harbor. During the organizing conference of the United Nations at San Francisco, which began 25 April 1945, Casper made two security patrols off the Farallon Islands.

Casper cleared San Francisco on 4 April 1946 for Charleston, South Carolina, where she was decommissioned on 16 May 1946. The patrol frigate was sold 20 May 1947.