| Career (United States) | |
|---|---|
| Name: | USS Bayonne (PG-129) |
| Namesake: | Bayonne, New Jersey |
| Reclassified: | PF-21, 15 April 1943 |
| Builder: | American Ship Building Company, Lorain, Ohio |
| Yard number: | 1013 |
| Laid down: | 6 May 1943, as PG-129 |
| Launched: | 11 September 1943 |
| Sponsored by: | Mrs. Hannah Gallagher |
| In service: | 22 September 1944 |
| Out of service: | 6 October 1944 |
| Commissioned: | 14 February 1945 |
| Decommissioned: | 2 September 1945 |
| Fate: | transferred to the Soviet Navy, 2 September 1945 |
| Acquired: | returned from Soviet Navy, 14 November 1949 |
| Recommissioned: | 28 July 1950 |
| Decommissioned: | 31 January 1953 |
| Honors and awards: |
6 battle stars, Korean War |
| Fate: | transferred to the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, 31 January 1953 |
| Struck: | 1 December 1961 |
| Acquired: | returned from Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, 27 June 1967 |
| Fate: | sunk as a target, 1 March 1968 |
| Career (Soviet Union) | |
| Name: | EK-24 |
| Acquired: | 2 September 1945 |
| Fate: | Returned to United States, 14 November 1949 |
| Career (Japan) | |
| Name: | JDS Buna (PF-294) |
| Acquired: | 31 January 1953 |
| Renamed: | YAC-11, 1 February 1965 |
| Decommissioned: | 31 March 1965 |
| Fate: | Returned to United States, 27 June 1967 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Tacoma-class frigate |
| Displacement: | 1,430 long tons (1,453 t) light 2,415 long tons (2,454 t) full |
| Length: | 303 ft 11 in (92.63 m) |
| Beam: | 37 ft 11 in (11.56 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 Bayonne (PF-21), a Tacoma-class frigate, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for Bayonne, New Jersey.
Bayonne (PF-21) was laid down under a Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 1487) on 6 May 1943 at Cleveland, Ohio, by the American Ship Building Company; launched on 11 September 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Hannah Gallagher; and placed in service on 22 September 1944 for the voyage to Baltimore, Maryland. She arrived in Baltimore on 2 October 1944 and was placed out of service on 6 October 1944. Upon the completion of her outfitting, the frigate was placed in commission at Baltimore on 14 February 1945, Comdr. Elmer E. Comstock, USCG, in command.
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Bayonne moved south to Hampton Roads, Virginia, at the end of February and, on 3 March, put to sea bound for Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, whence she conducted her shakedown training. On 3 April, she departed the Guantánamo Bay operating area and, after stops at Kingston, Jamaica, and New York, she entered the Philadelphia Navy Yard for post shakedown repairs. She completed repairs early in May and, on the 7th, headed for New York. Arriving the following day, Bayonne remained there for almost two months. On 3 July, she got underway for the west coast. She arrived at the Puget Sound Navy Yard late in July and underwent a short availability. During the last week in August, the frigate moved north to Cold Bay, Alaska, where she was decommissioned on 2 September 1945.
Loaned to the Soviet Union the same day under the terms of the lend lease program. She served in the Soviet Navy until October 1949 when she was returned to the United States Navy.
Placed in reserve on 14 November 1949, the warship remained inactive at Yokosuka, Japan, until war broke out in Korea in the summer of 1950. Bayonne was recommissioned at Yokosuka on 28 July 1950, Lt. Comdr. Harry A. Clark in command.
On 11 September, Bayonne left Kobe, Japan, in company with Task Group (TG) 90.7, bound for the west coast of Korea. On 15 September, she screened the amphibious force when United Nations forces assaulted the port of Inchon. She continued service in Korean waters for the next 16 months, making voyages to Japan intermittently for repairs and liberty. Until the end of August 1951, Bayonne continued to serve with TG 90.7. After that time, the patrol frigate operated with TG 92.1 in the waters near Wonsan and Songjin on North Korea's eastern coast.
Bayonne was decommissioned at Yokosuka on 31 January 1953.
The following October, she was loaned to the government of Japan for service in its Maritime Self-Defense Force. Her name was struck from the Navy list on 1 December 1961, and she was retransferred to Japan in August 1962. The frigate was returned to the Navy late in 1967, and she was sunk as a target on 1 March 1968.
Bayonne received six battle stars for service in the Korean War.
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.