USS Ogden (PF-39)

Career (United States)
Name: USS Ogden (PG-147)
Namesake: Ogden, Utah
Reclassified: PF-39, 15 April 1943
Builder: Consolidated Steel Corporation, Wilmington, California
Laid down: 21 May 1943
Launched: 23 June 1943
Sponsored by: Miss Margaret S. Shelton
Commissioned: 20 December 1943
Decommissioned: 12 July 1945
Honors and
awards:
3 battle stars, World War II
Fate: transferred to the Soviet Navy, 13 July 1945
Acquired: returned from Soviet Navy, 15 October 1949
Fate: transferred to the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, 14 January 1953
Acquired: returned from Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, 28 June 1977
Fate: broken up, 1977
Career (Soviet Union)
Name: EK-7
Acquired: 13 July 1945
Fate: Returned to United States, 15 October 1949
Career (Japan)
Name: JDS Kusu (PF-281)
Acquired: 14 January 1953
Renamed: YAS-37, 1962
Renamed: YAC-22, 1964
Decommissioned: 1 April 1976
Fate: Returned to United States, 28 June 1977
General characteristics
Class and type: Tacoma-class frigate
Displacement: 1,264 long tons (1,284 t)
Length: 303 ft 11 in (92.63 m)
Beam: 37 ft 6 in (11.43 m)
Draft: 13 ft 8 in (4.17 m)
Propulsion: 2 × 5,500 shp (4,101 kW) turbines
3 boilers
2 shafts
Speed: 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Complement: 190
Armament: • 3 × 3"/50 caliber guns (3×1)
• 4 × 40 mm guns (2×2)
• 9 × 20 mm guns (9×1)
• 1 × Hedgehog anti-submarine mortar
• 8 × Y-gun depth charge projectors
• 2 × depth charge tracks

USS Ogden (PF-39), a Tacoma-class frigate, originally classified as PG-137, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for Ogden, Utah.

The first Ogden (PF-39) was laid down at the Consolidated Steel Corporation shipyard in Los Angeles, California, on 21 May 1943; launched on 23 June 1943, sponsored by Miss Margaret S. Shelton; and commissioned at San Diego, California, on 20 December 1943, with Lieutenant K. C. Tharp, USNR, in command.

Contents

Service history

World War II, 1944-1945

After shakedown out of San Diego, Ogden sailed from San Pedro, California, on 9 March 1944 escorting a convoy via Samoa to Milne Bay, New Guinea, which she reached on 2 April 1944. During this time, she sailed in company with her sister ship Van Buren (PF-42) and escorted the merchant tanker SS Fort Erie to Espiritu Santo from 23 to 29 March. Through July she took part in the operations leap-frogging westward in New Guinea, escorting landing ships and merchant vessels, conducting anti-submarine patrols, and serving as harbor entrance control ship at Humboldt Bay.

Following repairs and training at Brisbane, Australia, in August and September, the patrol frigate supported the buildup of men and shipping for the forthcoming return to the Philippines, twice escorting convoys from Manus in the Admiralties to New Guinea staging bases. She herself arrived at Leyte on 2 November, bringing up a convoy which included a Navy tanker, an Australian merchantman, and ten tugs pulling a variety of tows. When enemy planes attacked her convoy that night, one bomb missed her by only 50 yards (46 m).

She returned to New Guinea twice to bring reinforcement convoys to Leyte, and on 12 November, shot down three Japanese suicide planes attacking merchant shipping off Leyte. Her gunners scored again off New Guinea on 29 November, assisting in the destruction of two of the torpedo planes which attacked her Leyte-bound convoy.

Ogden left Humboldt Bay on 14 December, bound for Manus, Bora Bora, the Panama Canal, Charleston, South Carolina, and Boston, Massachusetts, where she arrived on 24 January 1945. After repairs and training in Casco Bay, Maine, Ogden was westward bound once more, via the Panama Canal to Seattle, Washington, where she completed repairs. On 27 June Ogden arrived in Cold Bay, Alaska, where she trained Russian sailors.

Soviet Navy, 1945–1949

She decommissioned on 12 July 1945 and was transferred to the Soviet Union under lend-lease. In the Soviet Navy she served as EK-7. The ship was returned to the United States at Yokosuka, Japan, on 15 October 1949.

Japanese Navy, 1953–1977

Transferred to Japan on 14 January 1953, she served as Kusu (PF–281). The ship was reclassified as an Auxiliary Service Craft, YAS-50, on 31 March 1970; reclassified as an Auxiliary Stock Craft, YAC-22, on 31 March 1971; and decommissioned on 1 April 1976. She was returned to U.S. custody on 28 June 1977. Fate unknown.

Awards

Ogden received three battle stars for World War II service.

References

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.

External links