| Career (South Vietnam) | |
|---|---|
| Name: | RVNS Pham Ngu Lao (HQ-15) |
| Namesake: | Phạm Ngũ Lão, Trần Dynasty general |
| Builder: | Lake Washington Shipyard, Houghton, Washington |
| Laid down: | 23 July 1941 |
| Launched: | 8 March 1942 |
| Completed: | January 1943 |
| Acquired: | 15 July 1972 |
| Captured: | By North Vietnam May 1975 |
| Notes: | Served as United States Navy aircraft catapult training ship USS Absecon 1943-1947 Served as U.S. Coast Guard cutter USS Absecon (WAVP-374), later WHEC-374, 1949-1972 Has served as Vietnamese People's Navy patrol vessel PRVSN Pham Ngu Lao (HQ-01) since 1975 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Tran Quang Khai-class frigate |
| Displacement: | 1,766 tons (standard) 2,800 tons (full load) |
| Length: | 310 ft 9 in (94.72 m) (overall); 300 ft 0 in (91.44 m) waterline |
| Beam: | 41 ft 1 in (12.52 m) |
| Draft: | 13 ft 5 in (4.09 m) |
| Installed power: | 6,080 horsepower (4.54 megawatts) |
| Propulsion: | 2 x Fairbanks Morse 38D diesel engines |
| Speed: | approximately 18 knots (maximum) |
| Complement: | approximately 200 |
| Armament: | 1 × 5-inch/38-caliber (127-millimeter) dual-purpose gun 1 or 2 x 81-millimeter mortars in some ships[1] Several machine guns |
RVNS Pham Ngu Lao[2] (HQ-17) was a South Vietnamese frigate of the Republic of Vietnam Navy in commission from 1972 to 1975. She and her six sister ships were the largest South Vietnamese naval ships of their time.
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Pham Ngu Lao was laid down in the United States by Lake Washington Shipyard at Houghton, Washington, as the United States Navy Barnegat-class seaplane tender USS Absecon (AVP-23), but was converted during construction into an aircraft catapult training ship. Commissioned in January 1943, she served in Florida waters, training battleship and cruiser floatplane pilots in catapult launches and serving as a mobile target for torpedo practice by U.S. Navy torpedo planes. She was decommissioned in March 1947 and placed in reserve.
In 1949, the U.S. Navy loaned Absecon to the United States Coast Guard, which commissioned her as the Casco-class Coast Guard cutter USCGC Absecon (WAVP-374). Until 1972, she operated primarily in the North Atlantic Ocean on ocean stations, and also conducted search-and-rescue and law-enforcement operations. In 1966 she was reclassified as a high endurance cutter and redesignated WHEC-374, and was transferred permanently to the Coast Guard.
After her antisubmarine warfare equipment had been removed, Absecon was transferred to South Vietnam on 15 July 1972 and was commissioned into the Republic of Vietnam Navy as the frigate RVNS Pham Ngu Lao (HQ-15)[3] She was the last of seven former Casco-class cutters transferred to South Vietnam in 1971 and 1972. They were the largest warships in the South Vietnamese inventory, and their 5-inch (127-millimeter) guns were South Vietnam's largest naval guns. Pham Ngu Lao and her sisters fought alongside U.S. Navy ships during the final years of the Vietnam War, patrolling the South Vietnamese coast and providing gunfire support to South Vietnamese forces ashore.
South Vietnam collapsed in late April 1975, bringing the Vietnam War to an end. Although all six of her sister ships fled to the Philippines, Pham Ngu Lao remained behind and was seized by North Vietnam in May 1975.
North and South Vietnam unified to form the new Socialist Republic of Vietnam, and the ship was commissioned into the unified country's Vietnamese People's Navy as PRVSN Pham Ngu Lao (HQ-01). Her status in that secretive navy is murky, but she is believed to have remained active into the 1990s and perhaps until as recently as 2000.[4] She is now believed almost certainly to be decommissioned, although her current status is unknown.[5]
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